L2 Happy New Year
by miss37
Summary: Sequel to "A Reception for Murder". Rewrite of an old story. Mac and Jo are developing their relationship while they are getting caught up in a difficult case and a strange encounter for Mac which puts Mac in danger with someone from his past.
1. Chapter 1

**Happy New Year**

Mac Taylor was nervous as he was standing in front of the mirror getting ready for his date with Jo Danville. They had started going out not long ago. It was New Year's Eve now and they were going to a French restaurant to eat. Mac had been recovering from a gunshot wound and he still had to be careful what he ate since the injury involved one of his intestines. He was still sore from the wound but not nearly as sore as he had been a few days ago. He looked in the mirror after he got his tie fixed. He blew out a breath. Jo made him nervous. He could not deny that. She was like a raging inferno and she wanted him to kindle her fire…or at least that is what she had told him. He hoped he could handle that task. He thought he was a lot more solemn than Jo but she insisted that she was going to bring him out of his shell. He supposed he had been living in a shell for several years and it was time to break out of it and stop letting his job control his life.

Mac heard the doorbell and he knew Jo was out there. He took a deep breath…or as deep as he could and blew it out. He went to the door and opened it. Jo smiled at him. "Good evening," she said. She was dressed in a long, red dress that was form fitting and she was wearing a long black sweater coat. "Well, are you just going to stand there staring?"  
"You look great," Mac said. He got his coat and went out the door. He was wearing his bright blue shirt and navy blue suit with a tie that matched.

"So, are you feeling okay?" Jo asked as they were waiting for the elevator.

"I'm feeling better. I'm not sleepy right now."

"Good. Maybe we can enjoy one dance then."

"I'm sure we can."

They looked at each other, each one wondering what the future would hold for them. The elevator opened and they stepped inside. Jo smiled as the elevator started down. "You remember that day I kissed you in the elevator?" she asked.

"How could I forget?" Mac asked.

"If you could have seen the look on your face."

"Well, I wasn't expecting that."

"Did you ever think we would be here like this?"

"No, I had never thought of it." Mac looked at her. "I'm glad we are though."

"It just takes a while to get you going."

"Well, I'm not one to just jump into anything."

"I guess I gave you a push."

"More like a shove."

Jo laughed. "Well, some people have to have more coaxing."

"Am I that thick?"

"Absolutely. That shell is so thick, I'll have to get a hammer."

"There's no need to get violent."

Jo looked at him. "Just wait till I get you where I want you if you want to see violent," she said.

Mac cleared his throat. The elevator doors opened and they went out to Jo's car. "What was it like learning to drive here in New York?" Mac asked.

"Very difficult but I was determined," Jo said. "It was no harder than having a baby or taking care of two teenagers."

"I grew up around Chicago so it wasn't a big change when I moved here. Just had to learn where everything was."

"I took cabs a lot at first so I could see where things were and then I started driving when I got a feel of the place."

They soon arrived at the restaurant and went inside. "Oh, I'm glad it's warm in here," Mac said as he shivered.

"Me too," Jo agreed.

They were shown to their table and given menus. "I'm not sure what I want," Jo said. She looked at Mac. "Can you eat meat yet?"

"Not much," Mac said. "I mostly have to eat soft stuff right now but I can eat meat once a day."

"Have you eaten it today?"

Mac smiled. "No, I saved it for tonight."

"I'm glad."

They finally decided on what to order and placed their orders. Mac took a bite of the bread that was on the table. "It is so good to be able to eat bread again," he said as he put some butter on it.

"I've never been on a liquid diet," Jo said. "It must be difficult."

"It is especially when you smell what someone else is eating."

Jo sipped some water and stared at Mac. "You're so handsome in candlelight," she said.

Mac looked at her. "And you're very beautiful," he replied.

"What makes you so hard to figure out?"

"I'm just private, I guess."

"You don't share your feelings with anyone."

"Not anymore."

"It's hard when you lose that person who knew everything about you and you could talk to them about anything."

Mac nodded. "Yes, it is."

"And you don't feel like you'll ever have anyone else like that."

"It's hard to accept anyone else."

"You have to though unless you want to live your life alone."

Mac sipped his water and looked at Jo. "I tried it once," he said. "After that, I felt even worse."

"I'm sure you did. What happened? Did you decide you didn't want to have a relationship?"

"No. She sent me a letter and told me that it was over."

Jo stared at Mac a moment. "A letter?"

Mac nodded. "It took me a long time to get over that and I never wanted to go through it again."

"How cruel. What happened?"

"Well, she wanted to move back to London and she didn't want to continue the relationship after I came back here from spending some time over there."

Jo tried to keep her mouth from dropping open. No wonder he was afraid of relationships. That was the meanest thing she had ever heard of. "And she knew about Claire, I assume?" she asked.

Mac nodded. "I didn't understand it but she didn't even give me a chance to say anything."

"That's why you're cautious."

Mac nodded. "I suppose it is."

"I don't blame you but you don't have to worry about that with me. I'm not going anywhere and if I decide I don't like you, I'll tell you."

Mac smiled. "I'll try not to disappoint you," he said. He looked at her. "I hope I won't be a disappointment."

"I'm sure you won't be. You've just forgotten how to erupt and I'm going to teach you again."

"Erupt?"

"Yes. Every man has to erupt some time or he will eventually explode. You're on your way to explosion."

Mac shook his head as he looked at the table and then back at Jo. "You have quite a way of describing things," he said.

"Thanks. I've been wanting to get to you for a long time."

"Why?"

"There's just something about you that peaks my interest."

"Like what?"

"All that mystery. After all, I'm a detective. I like mysteries. I want to see the truth about Mac Taylor."

"What? Do you think I have some deep, dark secret?"

"No, I think you have a lot to share and I think you are very passionate and sincere about what you do and if I can hook you, I'll never be lonely again."

Mac stared at her a moment. "What if you're disappointed?" he asked.

"I won't be. I have a gift for reading people."

"And you think I can keep up with you?"

"I'm sure you can."

Soon, their meals arrived. Mac ate in silence for a few minutes. He still did not know how to take Jo. He supposed even when a person was ready to "come out of their shell", they still had to have time to adjust to things. He could not just jump into something. He wanted to do this slowly and make sure it was the right thing before they wound up in a whirlwind and then discovered that it was all a mistake.

"Do you ever think about pleasure?" Jo asked, breaking into Mac's thoughts.

Mac looked at her. "Well, I can't say I think of it very often," he said.

"Don't you think you need that?"

"Pleasure?"

"Yes, something you enjoy doing."

"I guess I haven't really thought about that much either."

"What about since we've been going out? Everybody needs pleasure in life."

"I'm getting a lot of pleasure just sitting here and talking to you," Mac said.

"Good." Jo took another bite of her food.

Mac laid his fork down and rubbed his stomach. "Are you okay?" Jo asked in alarm.

Mac looked at her. "Yes, I'm just eating a little too fast," he said. "It gives me indigestion."

"So, what do you think the new year will hold for us?"

Mac considered that. "A lot of pleasure?"

Jo smiled. "Oh, come on, Mac. Don't you have some kind of fantasy? I'm trying to get you to loosen up."

"That seems to be what everybody thinks I need to do."

"Really?"

"Maybe I don't want to be so loose."

"You want to be in control."

"I wouldn't say that." Mac took another bite of his food.

"I'll bet you just get all out of sorts if that lab gets out of control the least bit."

Mac wiped his mouth with the napkin. "That lab can't get out of control," he said. "People trust us and expect us to do things right and that's the way I expect it to be run."

"But haven't you ever had something to get out of control?"

Mac thought. "The only time it was out of control was when we had a false gas leak and those drug dealers were trying to get their drugs back," he said.

"They faked a gas leak?" Jo asked.

"Yes, they put the chemical that is used in Natural Gas to give it an odor into the air ducts and when everyone was evacuated, they tried to take the drugs out of the vault."

"And you stopped them."

"Stella and I did with some help from Sheldon too."

"Sounds like you were in danger."

"It was definitely dangerous, and all the while, they had Danny and Adam held captive at the other site to keep Flack distracted from what was really going on at the lab."

"Wow, they were organized, huh?"

"Absolutely."

"So, do you have any other family?"

"I have a sister and a brother but they live on the other side of the country. I don't see them much."

"How long has it been?"

"Quite a while."

"It's been a while since I saw my sisters too." Jo sipped her wine. "Time just gets away."

"Sure does. Seems like only yesterday, I was joining the Marines and now…" Mac sighed. "Sometimes I feel old."

"I don't want to feel old. I want to enjoy my kids."

"Must be nice to have someone to take care of and who depends on you."

"It is. Ellie is doing great in school now. She didn't like it when we first got here because she missed her friends but now she has more friends and she enjoys school."

"That's good. I guess it was a big adjustment."

"Sure was. A lot more kids and a bigger school."

When they were done eating, they sat and talked a while longer and then went to the dance floor. "You feel up to dancing?" Jo asked.

"Yes," Mac said. He pulled her to him as they got onto the floor. "I've been resting and recuperating to get ready for this."

Jo smiled. "You're such a romantic when you want to be."

Mac smiled. "I have to admit I have had a lot of fun tonight and I have enjoyed our talk."

"I enjoyed it too. So nice to just sit and talk."

"It's been a long time since I did that."

"It's good to sit and talk things out and open up to someone."

"It's been a long time since I danced too."

"Dancing makes me feel free. It's an expression."

"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?"

Jo considered that. "Well, I have never been to Hawaii, so I guess I would like to go there," she said.

"Hawaii is a beautiful place," Mac said as he studied Jo's face.

"What are you thinking?" Jo asked as she noticed the serious look on Mac's face.

"Just thinking."

"You're not going to tell me?"

"A man doesn't always tell everything he thinks."

"I hope it's something good."

"I don't know of anything bad about you."

Jo stared at him a moment. He had not looked at her with such a tender look before. "I think I'm getting used to this," Mac said softly.

Jo did not think she knew what to say now. Was he finally accepting their relationship? She felt her heart flutter with the thought. "So, what do you usually do on New Year's Eve?" she asked.

"Well, I guess I'm usually working. People are always killing each other, you know."

"I suppose I have been guilty of the same thing." Jo lay her head on Mac's shoulder. "I think this year is going to be different."

"Me too," Mac agreed.

After that dance, they went back to Jo's apartment. "I am going to put on something more comfortable," Jo said as she hung up her coat. "Make yourself at home." She kissed Mac and then headed for her room.

Mac hung his coat up as well as his suit coat and tie. He sat down on the couch to wait for Jo. Her living room was cozy with a sofa and a recliner, an entertainment center that included a TV, stereo, DVD's and CD's and even LP's. Mac walked over to it to see what kinds of DVD's and CD's she had. She had quite a large selection. Mac thought he and Jo had some of the same taste in music. He liked some of the older music from the 60's and 70's and Jo had a lot of it.

"You can put a CD in if you want," Jo said, startling Mac.

Mac looked around at her. She was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt now. "Sorry, I just had to get out of that dress," she said. "I'll fix us some apple juice to toast in the New Year."

Mac watched her walk back to the kitchen. He looked back at the CD's and wondered what he should play. Jo had plenty of Blues and Jazz and plenty of those old love songs too. Mac was not sure he wanted to play love songs. He sighed as he wondered how to carry this relationship forward. He did not want to move too fast.

Jo came back from the kitchen with two crystal goblets and a bottle of apple juice in a bucket of ice. She set them down on the coffee table and looked at Mac who was still standing in front of the CD collection. "You didn't find anything you like?" she asked.

Mac looked at her with a slight smile. "I found plenty," he said as he held up an LP. "I can't believe you have some of this. I haven't heard some of these in years."

"So put one on."

Mac put the LP back in the rack. "Why don't we just watch the New Year's special?" he asked and walked over to the sofa.

"Okay, if that's what you want," Jo said. She turned the TV on and turned the lights out except the lamps.

They sat down on the sofa. "I'll keep this cold until we get ready for our toast this evening," Jo said, referring to the apple juice. "But I did remember something else." She picked up a small branch of mistletoe. "We didn't get to have any fun with this on Christmas Eve, so I thought we could make up for it tonight."

Mac smiled and took the branch. He looked at Jo and held the mistletoe over his head. "Come and get me," he said.

Jo gave him an alluring look. "You don't have to tell me twice," she said seductively. She moved closer to Mac and unbuttoned two more buttons on his shirt.

Mac shifted on the couch. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I want to see a little more of that chest…if you didn't have that t-shirt on."

"Hey, it's cold outside."

"Well, let's make you more comfortable," Jo said as she unbuttoned more buttons.

Mac swallowed hard. "When are we getting to the kiss?" he asked.

"As soon as I can feel some warmth." Jo pushed Mac's shirt off his shoulders. "Mmm, I've got you tied up now."

Mac pulled his hands out of his shirt. "Now, I'm liable to get cold," he said.

"Oh, don't worry about that. You'll be anything but cold."

Jo moved over into Mac's lap. She could feel his tension. "Relax," she whispered and kissed him lightly. She rubbed his shoulders and caressed his face. "It's just you and me," she whispered in his ear. "We'll do what we want."

Mac could feel his heart pounding as their lips met again. He buried his hands in Jo's hair as their tongues met in a wrestling match. Jo put her arms around Mac's neck and they were locked in a passionate kiss. Mac slid his hand down Jo's back and pulled her closer to him. "Oh, if we keep this up, we won't make it to that toast," Jo whispered as Mac was kissing her neck making her pulse race.

Mac stopped and stared into her eyes as he stroked her hair. Jo felt like she could completely drown in those eyes. She rubbed his chest and started to massage his shoulders. "You're so tense," she said.

"I can't help it," Mac replied.

"You've been tense for too long." Jo kissed his chest and then his neck. She felt Mac's hands slide under her shirt to her back as he kissed her again.

They stared into each other's eyes again. "I don't think I care about waiting for that toast," Jo whispered. She would not have thought Mac's look could have become more intense or passionate, but she was wrong. She could feel his heart pounding and hear his breathing as he moved to kiss her again.

Just as their lips were about to touch, the doorbell rang. Mac almost jumped off the couch and Jo stood up. She put her hands on her face, knowing it must be incredibly flushed. Then she heard Ellie say, "Mom!"

"Oh my Lord," Jo said as she tried to calm herself down from the excitement.

Mac pulled the blanket over his lap and took deep breaths trying to calm himself down as well. Jo went to the door. "Sweetie, what are you doing home?" she asked.

"I don't ever want to go to another sleepover!" Ellie said as she walked in the door.

"What happened?"

Ellie walked in and flopped down on the couch. "Hi, Mac," she said.

"Hi," Mac replied.

Ellie folded her arms as tears were sitting on her face. Jo came over to her. "What happened?" she asked, fully in her mother mode now.

"Well, the party went fine until they decided to play beauty shop," Ellie said. "Then they said I would have to be a stylist because they didn't know how to fix my hair."

Jo's mouth dropped open. "They said that to you?" she asked.

"Yes."

Mac scowled. "Some friends," he said.

"That is just mean," Jo said. She bent over and looked at Ellie. "You just don't worry about them. You can spend this evening with Mac and me."

"Oh yeah, that's just how every teen dreams of spending New Year's Eve…with their mom and her boyfriend."

"Well, at least you know I love you."

Ellie stared at Jo a moment, but then could not help but smile. "There's that smile," Jo said. "We'll have a toast here and we'll be just as much in two-thousand twelve as everyone else."

Jo sat down on the couch between Mac and Ellie. She glanced at Mac who sighed silently. Jo was glad Ellie had not shown up a few minutes later. That would have been really embarrassing.

When Midnight came, they toasted with the apple juice and Jo kissed Mac. "Happy New Year," she said.

"Happy New Year," Mac replied.

"To everything the New Year may hold for us." Jo looked at Ellie and smiled. She kissed her on the forehead.

Ellie yawned. "I think I'm going to bed now, Mom," she said. "I'm tired."

"Good night."

"Night," Mac said.

Ellie went to her room. Mac sat down on the sofa. "We better be more careful," he said.

"We will," Jo replied and reached for his hand.

Mac stared at her a moment. "I think I've lost the feeling now," he said.

"I'll help you find it again."

Mac looked at her hand and grasped it. Jo led him into her room and locked the door. Mac looked around the room and then at Jo. "I don't want to do this," he said.

"Why?" Jo asked. "Ellie won't hear anything."

"That's not it. I just don't think we ought to go this far yet."

Jo folded her arms. "What does that mean?"

Mac shook his head. "I want more than just a sexual relationship." He looked at Jo. "Don't you?"

Jo considered that. "Sure, but if you're talking about marriage, I don't know if that is what I want or not."

"Well, we'll see if we can figure out whether we're both wanting the same thing or not."

Mac turned to leave the room and Jo followed him. "You're leaving just like that?" she asked.

Mac got his shirt off the sofa and put it back on. "I think I should," he said.

Jo walked over to him. "You're not upset at me, are you?"

Mac stopped buttoning his shirt and looked at Jo. "I want more than a shallow relationship," he said. "Like I said, we need to see if we both want the same thing."

Jo followed Mac over to the coat rack as he put his coats on and put his tie in his pocket. He looked at Jo and touched her face. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said. "I enjoyed toasting in the New Year." He kissed her and then went out the door.

"Good night, Mac," Jo said as she watched him walk down the hall. She closed the door and leaned on it a moment. She was not sure what to think of that sudden change of attitude but she supposed she would have to accept it.


	2. Chapter 2

When the next morning came, Mac was lying with his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling. He hoped Jo would not be angry at him for leaving last night but he was not ready for all that. He wanted to develop their relationship and have love between them instead of lust. He thought it was strange that he had not gotten any calls during the night, but he realized his phone was not even on the nightstand. He had not thought about his phone last night and had not taken it with him on his date. He had been too preoccupied to think of it when he got home. He got up and went into the living room and found the phone on the table.

Just as he found the phone, the doorbell rang. Mac found that he had ten missed calls and five missed texts. He knew he was going to be in trouble if there was something serious going on. The chief would be at his office chewing him out. Mac went to the door and opened it.

"Mac," Don said. "Everybody was getting worried about you. Where have you been?"

Mac looked at him. "Asleep," he replied. "I'm sorry. I didn't have my phone in there and I didn't have it with me last night."

"Well, everybody is looking for you."

"I'll be there soon."

Don turned to leave as Mac closed the door. He wondered where Mac had been but he thought if he had left his phone at home, he must have had a date.

Mac hurried into his bedroom and got a quick shower. He dressed in a hurry and grabbed his coat and headed out the door. He got a cab and was on his way to the office. He dreaded trying to worm his way out of this one. He hoped the chief would not be too brutal.

Mac arrived at the precinct and hurried to the elevator. He was nervous as the elevator rose up to the 35th floor. He came out at the lab and headed for his office. "Hey, Mac!" Danny said. "Where you been? We were starting to think you weren't coming in today."

"I overslept," Mac said, avoiding looking at Danny.

"We tried to call you several times."

"My phone was off."

"Man, you must have had some night last night."

Mac hung his coat up. "So, what's going on?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"Well, there was a New Year's party last night and a bunch of young teens were hurt and one was even killed," Danny said as he gave Mac a folder. "Seems they were having a sleepover and started playing beauty shop. One of the girls dropped a hair dryer into some water where one of the girls was washing her hair and well, you know what's next."

Mac stared at the report in disbelief. "Something wrong?" Danny asked, noticing the shocked look on Mac's face.

Mac looked at Danny. "Jo's daughter was at a party like this last night," Mac said. "She left early because of something. Jo must not know about this."

Danny was wondering how Mac knew about that. "You think this was the same party?" he asked.

"If it's not, there must be some sort of trend going on."

"Do they think this was deliberate?" Mac asked.

"Nah, they really thought it was an accident."

Mac knew what had been going on at that party last night and he knew some of the girls were not getting along. "Maybe we should look deeper into this," he said. He got his phone and called Jo.

"Hello," Jo answered.

"Jo, have you heard about anything that happened at the party that Ellie went to last night?"

Jo was quiet a moment. "No, haven't heard anything. Why?"

"What was the address Ellie was at?"

Jo told him. "What's going on, Mac?"

"One of the girls at that party was killed."

"What?"

"I'm looking at the report. One of them was electrocuted."

"Oh my word! I don't think Ellie knows this."

"I'm sure she doesn't. One of the girls was electrocuted by a hair dryer that was dropped into the water where she was washing her hair."

"What was the girl's name?"

"Felicia Gregory."

Mac heard Jo gasp. "I'll get back to you, Mac," she said and ended the call.

Mac put his phone back in the holster and looked at Danny. "She knew this girl," he said.

"You think something was going on?"

"I don't know," Mac said. "I don't know much about it. All I know is that Jo said Ellie went to a slumber party and she left early because some of the girls were talking bad to her and that makes me wonder if there was more than that going on."

"Ellie? Isn't she like twelve?"

"Yeah."

"What? Have we got twelve and thirteen year olds killing each other now?"

"It's happened before."

"You don't think Jo's daughter had anything to do with this do you?"

"No, but she might know who did."

"You think she will tell it?"

"We'll see."

"You know how kids are…they don't rat out their friends."

"This is not some game we're playing here…it's murder."

Mac walked into his office and sat down to study the file some more. Danny went into the lab where Lindsey was. "Mac says Jo's daughter, Ellie, was at that party," Danny said.

"She wasn't there when this happened, was she?" Lindsey asked.

"No, she wasn't there when we got there. She left early because some of the girls were giving her a hard time."

"You're kidding. What is Mac saying about it?"

"He's wanting to know if it was an accident."

"You mean he thinks one of them murdered this girl?"

"Anything's possible these days." Danny looked toward Mac's office. "I think he was with Jo last night."

"Why?"

"I think that's how he knows all this. Must be why he wasn't answering his phone."

"Oh, Danny. Stop being so nosey."

"I can't help it."

Mac read all the information in the file. He rubbed his face. What would Jo think if he wanted to question her daughter about this murder? Would she get mad at him for even thinking that her daughter knew anything about a murder? He knew Jo loved her kids and she was a mother hen. One does not mess with a mother hen's biddies. However, he would have to do what was necessary even if she did get mad at him. He hoped Ellie did not know anything about this.


	3. Chapter 3

Mac went into the lab to look over the evidence in the case. He looked at the hair dryer that had been used. "So, the girl was washing her hair and one of the others dropped the hair dryer into the water in the sink," he said. "How did that happen?"

"Well, from what I gathered," Lindsey began, "One of the girls was drying her hair while the other one was washing hers and the dryer slipped out of her hand and landed in the sink."

"Where were the other girls? Were they the only two in there? And where was the girl's mother?"

"They were actually spread out in two rooms, the bedroom and the bathroom. The mother was there in the bedroom."

"It could have been an accident but I want to make sure."

"And Ellie was there?"

Mac nodded. "I haven't heard any more from Jo," he said.

"You think Ellie will tell her anything if she knows anything?"

"I don't know but I hope she will, and I hope this was just an accident but I do know that some of the girls were not getting along at that party."

Mac went back to his office and called Jo again. She did not answer, however. He went down to the morgue to see what Sid had found out about the victim. "Morning, Sid," he greeted.

"Morning," Sid replied. "I guess you're here about this thirteen year old victim."

"Yes, I am. Does she have any other injuries on her?"

"There is a bruise here," Sid said pointing to the right side of the girl's face. "They didn't show up before but now, they are becoming pronounced." He looked at Mac. "From the shape of this bruise, I would say she was hit with that hair dryer before it was dropped into the sink."

Mac stared at the bruise and then looked at his file. "Yvonne Dunlap was the one who dropped the hair dryer," he said. He looked at Sid. "Looks like I will have to have a talk with this girl."

Sid watched Mac leave the morgue wondering where this case was going to lead. He looked at the young victim and shook his head. "Such a waste," he said and covered the girl's head back up.

Instead of going back up to the lab, Mac went out to get a cab. "Hey, Mac!" he heard a familiar voice call.

Mac stopped, knowing he would have to face Flack sooner or later. He turned to wait on him. "So where were you last night?" Don asked.

"I had my phone off," Mac said. "I didn't have it with me."

"So you were out last night?"

"Yeah, I was out and I just forgot my phone. We don't have time to talk about this right now. We have a case to work on."

"Well, the chief is wanting to know why you were out of touch all night and I don't think he's going to take that answer."

"I don't care what he says. I have a right to go out if I want. So what if I forgot my phone."

"Hey, you can do what you want but I'm just telling you."

"Right now, we need to find out something about this murder victim and the girl who dropped that hair dryer," Mac said.

"Murder victim? I thought this was an accident," Don said in surprise.

Mac shook his head. "Sid found bruises on the girl's face that look like they were made by the hair dryer."

"Who murders a thirteen year old?"

"Another thirteen year old who can't take it anymore." Mac looked at Don. "Let's go."

They went to Don's car and drove over to the house where the murder took place. Mac stopped as they walked into the bedroom which was decorated with pink and purple polka dots and had posters of young pop stars on the walls. "Sad, isn't it?" Don asked.

Mac nodded. "So where did the incident take place?" he asked.

"In here," Don said pointing toward the bathroom.

Mac walked into the bathroom which was also decorated with pink and purple and even had a purple sink and a pink toilet and a purple tub with pink polka dots on it. "This kid really liked pink and purple," Don remarked.

Mac looked at the sink, which was not any bigger than any other bathroom sink. He thought maybe when the girl dropped the hair dryer it hit the victim's face. If she had her head down in that sink, the hair dryer would have had to hit her. He would have to ask Sid about that bruise and whether it could have been made just by dropping the hair dryer. He hoped that was the case. "Did anyone say some of the girls were not getting along?" Mac asked.

"No," Don answered. "No one said anything about that."

Mac knew he would have to be careful with this because if he pressed too hard, Jo would get mad at him. "The victim was the one who lived here," he said thinking. "And Yvonne Dunlap was a guest. I want to see her next."

"We have the address. Those people scattered after this was over."

"Well, we're going to round them up."

Mac and Don went back to the precinct. Mac went to his office and waited for Don to find all those girls who were at the party. He was still studying over the case when he saw Jo coming toward his office along with Ellie. Mac stood up and waited for them to get there. "Mac, what's going on?" Jo asked as she told Ellie to go on to her office.

Mac stared at Jo a moment. "I don't know if this was an accident or not, Jo," Mac said. "I need to talk to Ellie about what happened at that party."

Jo folded her arms. "Are you suggesting that Ellie had something to do with this? Or that she knew about it?"

"No, I'm saying that I want to ask her about these two girls who were involved." Mac looked at her. "Don't get like this. If this wasn't Ellie, you would be scanning the case just like I am."

"Are you saying I'm prejudiced?"

"No, I'm saying, I want you to think with your mind, not your heart."

"Ellie didn't have anything to do with this, Mac."

"I know that, Jo. I was there when she came back home, remember? I heard her say that some of the girls were talking bad to her. Maybe this girl had been talking bad to the one who dropped the hair dryer."

"Mac, do you really think girls murder each other over some little spat?"

"I've seen it happen, Jo," Mac said seriously.

Jo stared into Mac's eyes. She knew he was right. "I'll ask her," she said. "Yvonne is one of Ellie's best friends. They've been friends since we moved here to New York."

"I'm sorry about this, but we have to look into it."

"I know. I'm sorry." Jo opened the office door. "Come on and let's go talk to her."

"You can talk to her yourself if you want. She might be more comfortable."

"Well, she is going to have to get comfortable talking to you too if you're going to start being around."

Mac heard that tone in Jo's voice that almost asked the question whether he was going to be around and she folded her arms and gave him one of those looks. "I intend to be around," he said.

"Good, then come on."

Mac followed Jo down to her office where Ellie was sitting in Jo's chair. "Ellie, we need to ask you some questions," Jo said as she closed the office door.

"About what?" Ellie asked.

"About your friends," Mac said. He sat down on the couch. "Was Felicia talking mean to anyone else last night?"

"Of course. She was always wanting everything her way. She was the rich girl, you know. Did you see that bathroom? It was custom made."

Mac nodded. "Yeah, I saw it." He looked at Ellie. "Did Felicia and Yvonne argue last night?"

"Yvonne didn't really want to go to the party but I talked her into it," Ellie said. "She didn't like Felicia but she was okay when she wasn't bragging about her money or what she had."

"And what about Yvonne?"

"She went to the party because I did. I told her we would have a lot of fun and at least we would get to spend the night in a wealthy house. Some of our other friends were going too so it was supposed to be fun."

"But it didn't turn out that way?"

"No. Yvonne was uncomfortable being there the whole time. I think Felicia didn't like that. She started poking fun at her and then acted like it was nothing. Then when the beauty shop part started, Felicia just wanted everything to go her way. That was when I left. I don't know why Yvonne didn't leave."

"Had they been arguing before this at school?"

"Well, Felicia is in the upper bracket, if you know what I mean, and Felicia is not. I kinda associate with everyone and I told Yvonne to come with me. I don't know if Felicia liked her being there or not."

"Do you think Yvonne was mad at Felicia? Did she hate her?"

"I don't know. I know she didn't like her. Felicia was always bragging."

Mac nodded. "Okay, thanks for talking to me." Mac stood up and looked at Jo.

"I'm going in here to talk to Mac," Jo said to Ellie. "Just stay here for now."

Jo followed Mac to his office. "What do you think?" Jo asked.

Mac shook his head and dropped the folder on his desk. "I don't know," he said. "I'm not sure this was an accident but I don't have enough evidence to prove otherwise."

"You don't have to pussy-foot around me just because this is my daughter. Let's treat this like any other case because Ellie was not involved in this anyway."

Mac was quiet a moment. "I don't think she's telling us everything she knows about what happened last night," he said and looked at Jo to see how she was taking that.

"Mac, I know this is going to be a tense situation, but it's not going to affect our relationship. If we can't work together and have a relationship together at the same time, we should never have started it in the first place. Right?"

Mac stared at her a moment. "You don't have to answer that yet," Jo said. "And don't worry, nobody around here is going to hear anything from me."

"Jo, I'm not ashamed of our relationship but…" Mac looked out the door and saw the chief coming toward his office. "Uh oh."

Jo looked around to see the chief coming. She looked at Mac. "Are you in trouble?" she asked.

"I didn't have my phone with me last night, Jo."

The chief came to the office and walked in. "Morning, Mac!" he said. "It's about time you showed up." He looked at Jo. "Detective Danville, if you'll excuse us."

Jo glanced at Mac and then left the office. She looked back at him as she headed back to her office. She hated it because Mac had to take all the blame. After all, she had invited him to stay with her to toast in the New Year and she thought they would be doing more. She thought he must have really been preoccupied if he left his cell phone.

Mac looked at Chief Sinclair. "Well, Mac, I'm waiting for an explanation," Sinclair said.

"Chief, I went out last night and I forgot my cell phone," Mac said. "That's all I can say. I didn't have it with me and when I got home, I didn't think of it and left it in the living room and it wasn't even turned on."

"Mac, I don't care what you do when you're away from this office but you're the head of this lab and when something happens, you're supposed to be within reach." Sinclair stared at him a moment, making Mac feel like he was in the principal's office. "Thing is, nobody could reach Detective Danville either."

Mac looked at him. "I'm on the case now so why does it matter?"

"Look, I don't care what the two of you have going on, but you better not get slack on your job," Sinclair warned. "And I hear that this case involves Jo's daughter."

"She was at the party before this happened," Mac said. "She left early because some of the girls were picking on her."

"Teenage girls can be mean. You get to the bottom of this, Mac. If it's not an accident, I want to know it."

"Yes, sir."

Sinclair left. Mac sat down in his chair and rubbed his face. He knew that could have been a lot worse. He thought Sinclair must have been feeling generous. Jo came back to the office. "What did he say?" she asked. "That was a brief meeting."

Mac looked at her. "It may have been brief, but he meant what he said," he said. "He said that he didn't care what we have going on, but we better not be slack in our job."

"You told him?"

"Of course not. He just assumes it." Mac sighed. "You can't expect people like these not to be suspicious. We work in a lab full of detectives."

"Right. And very good ones, I might add."

"Let's just try to solve this murder and not let anything get too out in the open right now."

Jo smiled slightly. "Well, Mac, there's not much to tell…yet."

Mac raised his eyebrows. "That may change later."

Jo winked at him. "They won't hear anything from me." She smiled as she left the office.

Mac thought she enjoyed teasing him. He had to get this case solved. He knew how rumors went around this place. It was like a match touched to gasoline and he knew everybody would be interested in the one that must be starting up now. He did not like being the subject of gossip. People always stopped talking when the subject walked into the room and watched to see if they could see any little hint that the gossip was true or not. It was even worse with him because they knew how serious he was and how he kept things to himself. They would not enjoy talking about Jo as much as they would enjoy talking about him. He supposed everyone in the lab knew that he had been out of contact all night and that mysteriously, Jo had been too. He knew they could put two and two together but it would not matter so much that Jo had been out because she had kids and she was not the head of the crime lab. Mac knew that most people did not think of him as having a life other than this lab. He was always here and he was responsible for what happened here. They depended on him to make tough decisions. He supposed that was why he did not have much of a life. He felt responsibility…but he wanted that to change. He closed his eyes as he thought about the night before. He had enjoyed being with Jo but what had almost happened made him nervous. He was glad they had not gotten any further before Ellie knocked on that door and he was glad that he had decided not to let it go any further. He did not feel so tense today and had not even worried much when Sinclair showed up.

Just then, Mac saw Don Flack coming toward his office…


	4. Chapter 4

Don Flack came into Mac's office. "I found this Yvonne Dunlap," he said. "Her mother won't let me near her."

Mac considered that. "Well, she will or we'll have to bring her in like a criminal," he said.

"You really think this thirteen year old killed her friend?"

"I don't know if they were friends, but let's go pay her a visit."

Don followed Mac to the elevator. "So, how has two-thousand twelve been treating you so far?" Don asked just for conversation.

"Well, I'm investigating a murder so I guess it's no different than the other one," Mac replied, but he knew this year was going to be totally different.

"Where'd you go last night? Did you go out and have a wild night drinking?"

Mac looked at him. "No, I didn't. I went out and had a nice dinner and then toasted in the New Year."

"So you had a hot date? I chased down a guy who was running down the street naked with a sign that said 'two-thousand twelve: the year of doom'."

Mac rolled his eyes at that comment as the elevator began descending. "Why naked?"

"I don't know. He's one of those people who need attention. Now he's getting all the attention he wants in lock up for indecent exposure."

"Probably is glad to have some clothes on now."

They came out of the elevator and went out to the Avalanche. "I hope that woman doesn't give me too much trouble," Mac said as he was driving to the address.

"She gave me plenty," Don replied. "Told me if I didn't stay away from her daughter, she would sue this city."

Mac scowled. "Why is she so hostile about it?"

"I don't know. Maybe she thinks her daughter did it."

They arrived at the address and went into the apartment building. It was definitely different than the house where the murder scene was. Mac could hear kids laughing, playing and crying in the building. He figured this must be a family complex. They found the right apartment and Mac knocked on the door.

They heard someone unlocking the door and a woman pulled the door open while the chain was still hooked. "What do you want?" she asked.

Mac showed her his badge. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor. I need to talk to your daughter about this incident last night."

"Why? She doesn't want to talk about it. She was horrified."

"I understand that, Ma'am, but I need to talk to her about what happened."

The woman closed the door and unhooked the chain. She opened the door and stared at Mac. "I am warning you," she said. "If you traumatize my daughter, I will sue you."

Mac did not even make a comment to that. He just went on in, followed by Don. The woman led them to a bedroom at the other end of a short hallway. "Yvonne," the woman said. "This detective wants to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to anyone," Yvonne said.

"They are the police. You must talk to them."

Mac looked at the girl who was lying in her bed with the covers pulled up tight around her. "I just want to ask you some questions," Mac said as he walked over to the bed.

The girl pulled the covers back to reveal a face that was tear-stained and haunted. She just stared at Mac. "You wanta tell me what happened?" Mac asked.

"You know what happened," Yvonne replied.

"I've heard what happened from other people but I want you to tell me."

"Felicia was washing her hair and I was drying mine and the dryer slipped out of my hands. Sparks flew everywhere and the electricity went out. No one could see anything."

"The electricity went out?" Mac asked.

"Yes."

"Must have been the safety," Don said.

"So, what happened when the electricity went out?" Mac asked.

"I ran into the bedroom and Felicia's mother told us to calm down and she would get a flashlight. Everyone was screaming and I was scared. I didn't even know Felicia was dead until the lights came back on. I was afraid someone would think I did it on purpose."

Mac nodded. "I'm sorry you had to go through this," he said, certain now that this girl did not murder the victim. "It wasn't your fault. Accidents happen sometimes and that's why there are safety measures in place."

Mac stood up and looked at Yvonne's mother. "Thanks for letting me talk to her," he said.

Mac and Don left the apartment. "So you think it was an accident?" Don asked.

"Yeah," Mac replied. "The power went out but the jolt of electricity must have been enough to stop her heart and by the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late to help her."

Don shook his head. "Sad," he said.

Mac nodded in agreement. They went back down to the Avalanche and back to the lab. Jo met Mac at his office. "Where have you been?" she asked.

"I went to see Yvonne Dunlap," Mac said.

"And?"

"I don't have reason to believe that it was any more than an accident."

"Well, I'm glad that's all it is although it's sad."

Mac went on into his office and sat down at his desk. "I have to write all this," he said.

"So, are you coming over tonight?" Jo asked.

Mac looked at her. "Do you want me to?" he asked.

"Oh, you know I want you to. We can watch a movie or something."

Mac looked at her. "I want us to take our time."

Jo smiled at Mac's shyness. "You are such a darling I could just eat you up."

Mac scowled at that statement. "So, what are we doing tonight?"

"Absolutely nothing except sitting on the couch maybe having a little smooch."

"Jo."

"You are so shy. Don't forget to bring your phone tonight. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble again."

"Okay, I'll be there and I'll have it on vibrate."

Jo smiled at that comment. "Oh really?"

"Don't tease me anymore right now. I have to write this report."

Jo laughed as she walked to the door and looked back at him. "Be there at seven."

"If nothing happens."

"You better get there."

"I will."

Mac watched Jo go back to her office. He blew out a breath. He looked at his report form, but he did not really have his mind on the report. He leaned on his hands and thought about Jo. He thought she intended to do more than "smooch". He did not want to go that far and he did not want her trying to seduce him either.

"Hey, Mac!"

Mac looked up to see Danny standing in the doorway. Mac cleared his throat. "What?" he asked.

"Wow, you were zoned out, weren't you?"

"What do you want?" Mac asked, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Are we ruling that incident with the hair dryer an accident?"

Mac nodded. "Yes," he said. "It was an accident. This girl was not a murderer."

Danny nodded. "Okay then." He gave Mac his report. "There's you some more paperwork to sign."

"Thanks. I never have enough of that."

Danny went back to his office, which he shared with Lindsey. "I think Mac has something going," he said.

Lindsey looked at Danny. "You are always so interested in what Mac is doing," she said.

"Well, you know how he is. He keeps everything a secret."

Lindsey leaned on the desk. "There has been a rumor going around the lab," she whispered. "I heard it in the locker room the other day."

Danny leaned on the desk. "Tell me," he said eagerly.

"And people talk about women loving gossip. They just haven't met you."

"Come on and tell me. I don't care who likes gossip."

"Well, actually there is more than one rumor going around here," Lindsey said as she smiled at Danny. "One of them is that…"

Lindsey saw Jo coming down the hall. She sat up and acted like she was writing on her report. Danny thumbed through a file as they waited for Jo to get out of sight. Then they leaned on the desk again. "The first rumor, which I think is absolutely ridiculous, is that you and I are going to have another baby," Lindsey said.

Danny frowned. "Where did someone get that idea?" he asked.

"I don't know, but the other rumor is that Mac and Jo are dating and that the reason Mac was late this morning and out of touch last night was because they were together."

"Really? Who told this and how do they know?"

"Someone saw Mac and Jo at a French restaurant last night," Lindsey whispered.

"So, the rumor is that Mac spent the night with Jo?"

"This is so unprofessional to talk about this."

Danny sat up and tried to act uninterested. "Well, you can't really pay attention to rumors," he said.

Lindsey began working on her report again. "I wonder how long it had been for Mac," Danny remarked as thought it were just a thought.

"Danny, don't say that," Lindsey scolded.

"Hey, I never knew what bliss was until I married you and I don't have to wonder if I'll ever have sex again."

Lindsey stared at him. "Is that all you married me for?"

"No. I married you because I love you and you make my life worthwhile."

Lindsey smiled. "That is so sweet."

"I was nothing before I met you and now, I'm a husband and a father. I feel like I'm important to somebody."

"You 'are' important to me. I didn't know what happiness was until I married you either."

"Well, that's why I wonder about Mac. He was married all those years and then…well, I guess maybe he has found someone to share his life with. Jo doesn't seem like the type to play around with a man and then throw him away. If Mac is involved with her, he's probably on his way down the aisle."

Lindsey snickered at that remark. "You don't know."

"I know I don't 'know', but I think it."

Lindsey considered that. "I think Jo is probably good for him. She's different than anyone he's met, I'm sure and she will get him out of that shell he's created for himself."

"You think Mac has created himself a shell?" Danny asked as he was digging through his desk drawer in search of liquid paper.

"Of course. Haven't you ever noticed how he stays at the office all the time and even sleeps here?"

"Yeah, I guess that's what loneliness does to you."

Just then, they saw Mac going toward the elevator putting his coat on. "I wonder where he's going," Danny said.

"I don't have time to think about it," Lindsey said. "Where are we going for lunch today?"

"The deli I guess unless you've got something else in mind."

"How about pizza? I could eat a whole one myself."

Danny looked at her. "That rumor isn't true, is it?" he asked.

"What rumor?"

"About you."

Lindsey looked at Danny with a twinkle in her eye. "Not that I know of," she said.

Danny scowled. "That's not an answer."

"Yes it is."

Lindsey smiled. She loved putting Danny in suspense. Actually, she had a doctor's appointment the next day but she did not want him to know about it yet. She would let him know later…she had thought she would never want to have another baby, but she had definitely changed her mind in the last few months. Now that Lucy was growing bigger and did not need her so much, her arms felt empty.

Mac went out of the elevator and out to Jo's car. They were going out for lunch. "Let's go to the deli for a sandwich," Mac said. "I just want a turkey sandwich."

"Sounds good to me," Jo replied.

When they arrived at the deli, it was crowded. "Wow, I think everyone is in the mood for sandwiches today," Jo remarked.

"Looks like it," Mac replied. "We can go somewhere else if you like."

"No, this is fine. I like a big crowd of people."

"Why?"

"Cause, you get to see so many different faces and the food is fresher when it's moving out."

Mac considered that. "You never know, they might grab what they had left from last night and give it to the last ones," he said just to see what Jo would say.

Jo looked at him and saw that mischievous look on his face. "Oh, you," she said. "You are just a barrel of laughs."

Mac smiled. "Well, I try."

"I can just see it now…Mac Taylor investigating some sort of conspiracy in the deli foods industry."

"Oh, come on." Mac smiled as he looked around them. "Hey, look at old Frank back there," he said as he moved closer to Jo. "He might be gambling on the side."

Jo's mouth dropped open. She hit Mac lightly on the shoulder. "Mac, that is just awful," she said.

"Oh, so now I'm awful," Mac said.

Jo looked at him. "I am definitely seeing another side of you," she said.

Mac slid his arm around her. "Maybe you bring out the other side. Do you like the other side?"

"I like all sides and I want to see every one of yours."

"I think you've just about seen them all."

A shadow seemed to pass over Jo's face and she was quiet. "What?" Mac asked.

"I was just wondering why you left last night," Jo said. "But we can talk about it when we're sitting down."


	5. Chapter 5

When they had their food, they sat down at a table. Mac sipped his soda and Jo took a bite of her pickle. "Mmmm, I love these pickles," she said.

"I like them on hamburgers and sandwiches but not like that," Mac replied.

"You just don't know what's good. My grandmother used to make the best pickles you ever tasted in your life and my mother made them too."

"My grandmother made pickles too."

"I'll just bet they weren't as good as the ones my grandmother made."

"Well, since they're not around anymore, I guess we can't compare them."

Jo took a bite of her sandwich and looked at Mac. "Why did you leave last night?" she asked.

Mac chewed a moment and thought about it. "I just wasn't ready for that to happen," he said. "I told you how things have gone for me."

"That doesn't mean it will go that way this time."

Mac looked at her. "Let's just take our time. I don't want to get into that yet."

"When will you want to get into it?" Jo asked.

"I don't know. I want to know that this relationship is something besides just that and that it is going to last forever."

Jo stared at him a moment. She had never thought of "forever" but she supposed she would think about that if that was what Mac wanted. She did not know if she wanted to get married again but Mac was not the same man that she had married before and she could not judge every man by her experiences. "I like that," she said.

Mac had not been expecting that response. "Thanks," he said.

While Mac and Jo were eating, Danny and Lindsey walked into the madhouse. "Wow, there's a lot of people here," Danny said.

"Well, you're the one who wanted to come here," Lindsey replied. "So, don't complain."

Mac almost strangled on his coffee when he saw Danny and Lindsey. He tried to hide it by picking up the newspaper. Jo had not seen them yet. "I finally talked Ellie into getting some sleep at the babysitter's house," Jo was saying. "Oh, I can't imagine how that must have made her feel."

Mac did not say anything so Jo looked at him with the newspaper up. "What are you doing?" Jo asked. "Trying to ignore me?"

Mac looked over the paper. "No," he said. "Why?"

"Well, I want to talk to you, not this guy advertising cars."

Mac reluctantly laid the newspaper down. He glanced toward Danny and Lindsey who were still waiting in line. "What were you saying?" he asked.

"I was saying that I can't imagine how that situation made Ellie feel," Jo said.

"Must have been scary. I know how I felt when I saw one of my friends die in front of me, and I was older than thirteen."

Jo looked at Mac a moment while she took another bite of her sandwich. "You saw one of your friends die in front of you?" she asked. "How old were you?"

"Well, I have seen more than one die in front of me," Mac said as he stared at the table, seeming to travel back to another time. "I guess I've watched a lot of people die."

"People you cared about."

Mac nodded. "It's hard when they die a brutal death."

"Why don't you tell me about some of it?"

Mac looked at her. "Why? We're here to enjoy our lunch."

"Oh, Mac, I want to share everything with you, not just the fun stuff. If you have pains and regrets, I want to know about it."

"I watched one of my friends beaten to death when I was sixteen. I couldn't even shoot the guy who was beating him to save his life. I couldn't pull the trigger."

"You had a gun?"

"My other friend and I had gotten the gun from the guy who was trying to make Will deliver drugs for him. Even if I had pulled the trigger, Will would have still died. It was too late."

"Mac, no one can judge you for not wanting to take someone's life."

"Well, Jimmy did and so did his brother, Andy. He came back years later and tried to kill me. He was just a kid and we didn't even know he was there."

"Oh, how awful. I never went through anything like that as a kid. I was a country girl raised on a farm and I didn't really know anything about the evil of the world until I went to high school and college. A girl was raped in the same dorm that I was staying in. My mother panicked and wanted me to come home, but instead I just went to the police academy. I decided then that I was going to make a difference in the world."

"I joined the Marines to make a difference. All I wanted to do was be a Marine. I watched people die in both of those wars. Then after my father died, Claire and I moved here so I could become a cop and get where I am now."

"So much time passes and so many things happen and friends come and go. It's amazing to sit and reminisce about the past." Jo leaned on the table. "Tell me about something wild you did when you were young."

Mac looked at her and smiled his shy smile. "Why? So you can hold it over my head?"

"Oh no. I might tell you something about me."

"Like what?"

"You first."

Mac thought a moment. "Well, I did some pretty crazy things when I was in the Marines. We were always doing something to keep our minds off the danger we were in or where we were going."

"Tell me," Jo said as she leaned on the table further.

"You might not want to hear some of that."

"Oh yes, I want to hear it all."

Mac chuckled. "We might be here the rest of the day."

Jo's mouth dropped open. "You mean there's that much to tell?"

"Come on."

Jo folded her arms. "I'm beginning to think I don't know you at all, Mac Taylor."

Mac raised his eyebrows. "Well, I'm sure there's a lot you don't know."

"So tell me some."

Mac smiled. "I don't think I want to tell you. You might not let me in tonight."

"Humph. It will take more than that for you to get away. I'm going to keep you for a long time…"

"I'm glad," Mac said. He looked around to see if Danny and Lindsey were still there. They had gotten a table and Danny waved. Mac looked back at Jo who was looking around to see who Mac was looking at.

Jo looked at Mac. "Did you think we could keep it a secret forever?" she asked.

"No, but I thought maybe for a while."

"So tell me something you did when you were in the Marines."

Mac thought a moment. "Well, I went skinny-dipping on a dare when I was in training," Mac said.

Jo's mouth dropped open. "Oh, you are kidding!"

"No, I'm not kidding."

Jo laughed. "How did that turn out?"

"You don't want to know."

"Yes I do."

"Well, there are three barracks full of female soldiers somewhere who know what I look like with no clothes on."

Jo almost laughed out loud at that. "It was night, but they had a spotlight," Mac said.

Jo covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Oh, my Lord. I thought you were so serious and now I hear something like this," she said, laughing.

"Hey, that was a long time ago. I learned better too."

Jo fanned her face to try and stop laughing before she drew attention. "What happened?" she asked.

"Well, I got in trouble," Mac said. "I was bad to go skinny dipping when I was a kid and I guarantee you I've never done it again since that night. You don't ever want to know the punishment for streaking on a Marine base."

Jo laughed again. "You are so funny."

"It wasn't funny then. I had to do my workout routine in the nude."

Jo almost totally lost her composure then. She hid her face. "Don't tell me anymore, please," she said. "Just wait until tonight." She looked at Mac and wiped her eyes. "Although, I would have loved to watch that. We can talk about all this tonight instead of watching some boring movie. I would love to sit and talk to you at the supper table."

"Sounds like fun," Mac replied.

Mac shook his head. "You were so wild then but just look at you now," Jo said. "The head of the crime lab, an honorable Marine, a sexy man who knows how to push all my buttons."

"Boring?"

"Not boring to me."

Mac looked at her. "What about you?" he asked.

"Oh, don't even ask. I was not wild when I was young."

"You would think I would have learned not to take dares after that but I guess I was a stickler for punishment."

"You mean there's more?"

"Well I was on a ship going across the Atlantic more than once."

"Don't tell me anymore right now. I might embarrass us both."

Mac sipped his coffee. He had to smile at his memories. "I guess I was pretty wild when I was young but I didn't get into too much trouble," he said. "I was more mischievous than anything else."

"Maybe we can go skinny dipping together some day," Jo said.

Mac looked at her. "I think the bay would be too cold right now."

"Oh, you. You know what I'm talking about."

Mac smiled. "So I have something to look forward to in the future?"

"Absolutely," Jo said.

Mac looked at his watch. "We better go," he said. Just as he was standing up, his phone rang. He looked at it to see a text message. He looked at Jo just as her phone rang.

"Looks like we're about to get busy," Jo said.


	6. Chapter 6

Mac and Jo arrived at the crime scene where Don Flack was waiting for them. "Nothing like a murder to ruin a good lunch," Don remarked.

"So, where's the body?" Mac asked.

"Back here."

They followed Don into an alley. Mac covered his nose as he smelled the odor of the corpse. "How long has it been there?" Jo asked.

"From that smell, I would say it's been there quite a while," Don said.

"How come nobody has found it before now?" Mac asked. "Who found this body?"

Don pointed to a guy in a white chef's outfit with a greasy apron on. "He said he came out here to dump the garbage this morning and smelled this," he said.

"And he hasn't noticed an odor before now?" Mac asked. "This body has been here more than one morning."

Don shrugged. "I don't know, Mac. He says he has not noticed this odor until now."

Mac and Jo went over to the dumpster. They looked at each other. "Go ahead," Jo said with a grimace.

Mac stepped up on the stepladder beside the garbage bin and saw a big black garbage bag in the bottom of the bin. He could see a person's arm sticking out through a hole in the bag. He took pictures of the bag in the garbage bin and then climbed down. He looked at Jo. "Well, are you going in there with me?" he asked.

"Do I have to?" Jo asked.

Just then, Danny and Lindsey showed up. "Maybe not," Mac said. He looked at Danny and Lindsey. "We have a dead body in that garbage bin," he said.

Danny wrinkled his nose with disgust. "I can tell," he said.

"Suit up and get ready to get in there and see if there's anything else that pertains to the body after it's removed."

Mac and Jo waited while the ME took the body out of the garbage bin. Before they could lower it onto the plastic on the ground, the garbage bag tore open, spilling out the contents. Jo thought she would gag. Mac had to turn around and take a deep breath although he did not think it helped much. They looked at the body which was well into decay but it was still in the fetal position like it had been stuffed into the garbage bin, and Mac thought it might have been kept in something else for a while too. Mac pulled on some gloves and looked at Jo. "You ready?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jo replied.

They walked over to the body and squatted to get a closer look. "Looks like a female," Jo said as she saw the high heeled shoes and skirt and long hair.

Mac pulled a purse from the mess and opened it. There was a wallet in the purse, but of course it was covered in human juices from the decay of the body. "I'm sure there's an ID in there," Mac said. "I think we'll have to wait to see it though."

"This woman looks very young, Mac," Jo said. She looked at the victim's hand but could not tell much about it.

"Let's give her to the ME and let Sid see if he can find out how she died."

Mac motioned for the ME to take the body because he knew they were not going to find anything else. He walked over to the man who had found the body. "I understand you found the body," Mac said.

"Yes," the man said.

"And your name is?"

"Joseph Zimmerman."

"Are you telling me that you have not noticed this odor before this morning?" Mac asked.

"No," the Zimmerman answered. "I come out here to dump the garbage every day."

Mac wrote that down. "So, you came out here yesterday and you didn't smell that?"

"No, sir. And the garbage truck came yesterday too."

Mac wrote that down too. Jo was standing beside Mac now. She looked at Mac. "So, that would mean that someone had to throw that body in there last night sometime," she said.

Mac nodded. "And where had they been keeping it until then?"

Jo cringed at the thought. "In their freezer?"

Mac looked at her with an almost disgusted look. "The smell must have gotten so bad that they were afraid someone would find it and I don't think it was in a freezer. It was somewhere exposed to the elements."

"I'm surprised it took this long for them to realize someone could smell it."

Danny and Lindsey were trying to find something in the garbage bin but they were not having any luck because there were only three bags of trash in the bin. "There's nothing in here, Mac," Danny said. "Except these three bags of trash."

"Bring them in and let's make sure nothing pertains to this victim," Mac replied.

When they got back to the lab, everyone felt like taking a shower. "Wow, that corpse had been dead a long time," Danny remarked as he and Lindsey were trying to get the contents of the wallet out. He looked at Lindsey. "So, I guess we know the rumor is true now."

Lindsey looked at him. "We don't have time to talk about that right now," she said. "We have work to do."

"I can work and talk at the same time. Can't you?"

"Don't even go there."

"I guess it's a lot like chewing gum and walking at the same time or rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time."

"Well, I'll tell you this, a piano player has no trouble doing that. They have to have hand coordination like you wouldn't believe."

"Piano players?"

"Yes, I was thinking maybe we should have Lucy take piano lessons."

Danny considered that a moment. "I think she's too young right now," he said.

"Oh, Danny, don't be such a wise guy."

Danny snickered. "I just have to get under your skin sometimes." He pulled a driver's license out of the wallet. "Got something here." He put the license in a dish to wash the filth off so he could see what was written on it.

Lindsey watched what Danny was doing. "Linda Warner," she said. She wrote down the victim's name and birth date from the license and the address as well as the license number. "She was only seventeen."

Danny looked at Lindsey. "This is the second person under eighteen that we've seen dead today," he remarked.

"Makes you wonder if anyone lives to be our age anymore."

Lindsey took the information to Mac who was sitting in his office. "Thanks," Mac said as he looked at the paper.

"We're still working on the rest of the stuff in the wallet," Lindsey replied.

"Let me know if you find anything else."

"Will do."

Lindsey went back to the lab and Mac read over the evidence. He went to the computer lab and had Adam look up the license number and the address. "Linda Warner," Adam said as the information popped up on the screen. "Seventeen."

"We have to find out where she was when this happened and how long ago it was," Mac said. "Is she on the missing person's list?"

Adam typed in the computer. "Yes, she is. Looks like she disappeared two weeks ago."

Mac wrote all that down. "Who reported her missing?"

"Her sister, Andrea Warner."

Mac wrote that down as well. "I have to go and see Sid."

Mac left the computer lab and headed for the elevator. "Hey, Mac!" he heard Jo call.

Mac went ahead and pushed the elevator button and looked around at Jo. "Where you going?" she asked.

"To the morgue to see what Sid found out," Mac replied.

"I'll go with you."

"You sure you want to smell that odor again?"

"No need to get soft now."

They got into the elevator and the doors closed. Jo put her arms around Mac's neck and kissed him. "Mmmm," she said. "I just had to have a kiss."

Mac smiled and kissed her again. "A double pleasure, I guess," he said.

Jo leaned on his arm. "I can't wait until tonight," she said. "I want some quiet time with you."

"I hope we're not chasing some criminal."

"We won't be. We'll take it up again in the morning."

"Our job never ends."

"Everybody needs rest."

"I guess I had forgotten that until I met you."

"You need me."

"I do."

Mac showed Jo the information that he had about the victim. "She was on the missing person's list," Mac said.

"Seventeen," Jo said. "Just pitiful."

The elevator doors opened and they went out into the morgue. Mac looked at Jo. "Well, I can tell he's gotten that corpse," he said as he smelled the odor from the victim.

"Unmistakable odor," Jo replied.

Sid was still working on the victim with a mask on when Mac and Jo walked in. "Afternoon," Sid greeted.

"So, how long do you think the victim's been dead?" Mac asked.

"From the degree of decomposition, I would say about two weeks."

Mac nodded. "That's about how long she's been missing."

Sid looked at Mac. "You think someone killed her that long ago and just now dumped her into that dumpster?"

"That's what it looks like. How do you think she died?"

"Well, I haven't determined that yet but she does have what looks like stab wounds in her chest and abdomen." Sid brought the light over the table and showed Mac what he was talking about. "There's so much decomposition, it's hard to tell about the injuries, but I'll know more when I've had more time but right now, I would say that she was stabbed to death."

"Thanks, Sid. Just let us know what all you find out."

Mac and Jo headed back to the elevator. "I guess we need to go and find this girl's sister," Mac said.

"And give her the bad news," Jo added. "Oh, I just hate that."

"You don't have to go with me."

"Well, there's no need for you have to do all the bad jobs yourself."

Mac pressed the elevator button. "I wonder how many times I have told someone that we found their loved one murdered," he said.

"I'm sure it's too many," Jo replied.

They got into the elevator and went back up to the lab. Mac got his coat and his folder and waited for Jo. While he was waiting, Don came out of the elevator. "I guess you know our victim is a missing person," Don said.

"Yes," Mac replied. "She most likely died somewhere around the time she went missing. I'm on my way to see her sister now."

Just then, Jo came around the corner. Don had heard that rumor about Mac and Jo too. He wondered if that was the reason Mac was out of touch the night before. They all got into the elevator. "I'll get back to you on this," Mac said to Don as they came out at the squad room.

Don nodded and Mac and Jo went on out to the Avalanche. It was not as cold as it usually was this time of year. Mac was glad. Investigating a murder was bad, but when one mixed freezing weather in, it was even worse. Not to say that it was not cold, but there was no snow piled up three feet on the side of the road. They had a chance of rain but it was only slight and there were not many clouds, the temperature was in the 50's. Mac could remember years when it was this warm but January was as unpredictable as his job. He knew the weather could change in a day or two and be a blizzard.

Mac and Jo arrived at Andrea Warner's apartment. Mac knocked on the door. "She could be at work," Jo pointed out.

"She owns a beauty shop," Mac said. "But this is New Year's Day so I don't think she's there today."

"Oh, you never know. Women like to look good."

Mac knocked on the door again but there was no answer. "Well, I guess we are about to go to the beauty parlor," he said.

They went over to "Andrea's Beauty Salon". Mac was surprised at how busy it was and Andrea was obviously not the only beautician. "Hi," the woman at the front desk said. She had her hair dyed jet black with blonde frost on it and she had a makeup job and clothes to go with it as well. She blew a bubble with her gum. "You have an appointment?" she asked as she chewed her gum.

"No," Mac said. He showed her his badge. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor. We're not here for an appointment. We need to talk to Andrea Warner."

"Is she in trouble?"

"No. We need to talk to her."

The woman stood up and led them to the back of the salon where a woman was doing a manicure. "Andrea," the woman from the desk said. "These detectives need to talk to you."

The woman looked up at Mac and Jo with light blue eyes. She had red hair that was spiked in a Do as well. "You found my sister?" she asked.

"Can we talk to you?" Mac asked.

"Sure."

Andrea turned her client over to someone else and led Mac and Jo to an office. "Did you find Linda?" she asked. She stared at Mac and Jo. "She's dead isn't she?"

"I'm afraid so," Mac said. "I'm Detective Taylor and this is Detective Danville. I'm afraid your sister was murdered."

Andrea sat down at the desk and wiped tears off her face. "I figured she was dead," she said. "I tried to keep her out of that mess she had gotten herself into."

"What mess?" Jo asked.

"You name it. I tried to get her to go to beauty school and come and work with me but she didn't want to."

Jo sat down in a chair and looked at Andrea. "We need to know anything you can tell us that would lead us to her killer."

Andrea looked at Jo. "It could have been a number of people…her pimp, her junkie boyfriend, the drug supplier, any of those guys who paid her for sex."

"She was only seventeen and she was into all that?"

"She was seventeen, going on forty. I had kept her in school as long as I could and then she disappeared. I didn't really know if she was dead or just ran off with one of those bums so I filed a missing person's report so maybe someone could find her and at least I would know if she was alive."

"And she had a drug problem."

"A problem? She was high more often than she was sober. She had been through rehab and everything. When our parents died, she just gave up on life although I tried to help her. She got into those drugs and couldn't get out of it."

"Well, do you know the names of any of these people she was associated with?" Mac asked.

"Marty," Andrea said with disgust. "Marty Adams. He was her worst problem. You can start there and work your way up. I'm sure he'll roll over on anybody if he didn't kill her himself."

"You think he would have?" Mac asked.

Andrea considered that. "I don't know, but he must know something about it."

"You know where we can find him?" Jo asked.

"Try that Green Light Cavern. It's a weird bar over there in Brooklyn. I'm sure you've heard of it."

Mac wrote that name down. He had to admit he had never heard of it, but he was sure Flack would know something about it. "Thanks for your information," Mac said. "And we're sorry for your loss."

Mac and Jo went out to the Avalanche. "So sad," Jo said as they got into the truck.

"Yeah," Mac agreed.

They went back to the precinct and Mac told Flack about the bar. "Yeah, I've heard of that place," Don said. "There have been plenty of complaints and reports about that place. Somebody always fighting over there. It's loud and annoying."

"Well, we need to find this Marty Adams and see what he knows about what happened to Linda Warner," Mac said.

"You mean I gotta go in that place?" Don asked. "I'm telling you, Mac, if I go in there, I might have to arrest everybody."

"Just find Warner and bring him here. You can arrest everybody later."

"I'll take Messer with me. He likes to get into fights."

"You think you're going to get into a fight?"

"In there? Are you kidding? They love to fight. They'll probably know we're coming before we get there. Maybe you should go with me."

"Maybe I should. I think I need to see this place."

"They'll definitely know when you walk in."

"Let's just go. Get Danny and we'll all go."

When Danny was down there, they all went out to the Avalanche and Don to his car. "So we're going to the Green Light," Danny said. "Wow, I haven't been to that place in years."

"I have not been there at all," Mac replied.

"It's nowhere you'll ever want to go again."

"If this place is this bad, how come it hasn't been shut down?"

"Beats me. Maybe they have some important clients over there who like to get in fights and drink and drug all night."

"I hope I don't see anyone I know over there."

"Don't breathe too much while you're in there."

Mac frowned. "Let's just not talk about it too much or I might want to agree with Flack and arrest everybody there."

"Wouldn't hurt nothing."

Mac shook his head. He thought this place would be memorable…


	7. Chapter 7

When they arrived at the Green Light Cavern, Mac just stared at it a moment. It was on the edge of Brooklyn and kinda off to itself but he could hear the music very well from where they were. The place looked like an old run-down shack that was built of plank wood and not painted. It looked like it had seen its share of weather over the years. There was an old stop light on the outside of the place that looked like it was in working order and the light was on green at the moment and there was a sign over the door that said "The Green Light Cavern". There were plenty of neon signs flashing as well.

Danny looked at Mac as he was putting on his bulletproof vest. "You know, sometimes people say 'looks can be deceiving'," Danny said. "In this case, they're not."

Mac looked at him and shook his head. He put his own bulletproof vest on. "You really think we need these?" he asked.

"I wouldn't go in there without mine," Don said as he was coming over to the Avalanche.

Mac put his coat back on and looked at them both. "What bothers me the most is that you two have been in there," he remarked.

Don and Danny looked at each other as Mac walked off toward the bar. "Hey, I was in there looking for a suspect once," Danny said. "You know, I'll bet he never washes the glasses in there."

"I don't think anybody in there cares much for using a glass," Don said. "They drink from the bottle."

"Just knock it off," Mac said. "Are you sure we're going to be able to find this guy?"

"Yeah," Don replied as he took his radio off his side. "You guys standing by?" he asked into the radio.

Mac looked at him. "You have backup?" he asked.

"You know it but maybe they won't be in the mood for a fight today."

Mac walked up to the door of the bar. He looked at Don and Danny and then opened the door. If the odor was not bad enough, Mac thought the music would knock him back out the door. The music was hard rock and it was so loud, Mac could feel it pounding in his chest and stomach. The place was dark, only lit with green lights on the walls. However, Mac could see well enough to notice all the eyes that turned their way. He hoped no one had any weapons in there, although he was sure they did. He walked over to the bar which looked like it had been beaten and banged up so much that it would fall over. As a matter of fact, Mac thought it looked like something they had dragged in there to just make a bar out of. There was a guy behind the bar who looked like he had not washed his hair in…Mac wondered if he ever had. The guy looked like it might have been a very long time since he had a bath not to mention the pungent odor of the place.

Mac cleared his throat as the man came over to them. "What'll you have?" the man asked.

"You know a guy named Marty Adams?" Mac asked trying to talk over the music. He noticed a lot of eyes turn that way when he said that although he wondered how they could actually hear him over that blaring music.

"What you want him for?"

"I need to talk to him!" Mac felt like he was talking to himself although he could barely hear himself.

"I don't know him."

"Aw, come on!" Danny butted in. "We know you know him! Why don't you tell us which of these bums is him?"

"Yeah!" Don chimed in. "Before we do a raid on this place!"

The bartender stared at Mac who was glaring at him. "He's back there!" he said pointing toward the pool room.

"Now, see that wasn't so hard," Don said as he, Mac and Danny were heading that way.

Mac thought he would surely need a shower by the time he got out of here and he hoped he could get this odor out of his clothes. He thought he might have to burn them. He was sure it was more than cigarette smoke. He walked into the pool room where there were four pool tables, as well as a few dart boards on the walls that looked like they could not hold a dart if someone threw one at them because of all the holes in them. Mac had never seen such a place. He had been in bad places, but this one took the cake. He wondered how they could see how to play pool in here with the dim lights and everything looked green.

There were a few women in this room who looked like they were there for more than drinks by the way they were dressed. There was a big bald guy wearing a tank top and jeans who looked like he was about 6'4" tall and he had a tattoo of the Marine emblem on his bald head. Mac scowled at that. He wondered what that guy was doing in a place like this. The man walked over to Mac. "What do you want?" he asked.

Mac looked up at him. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor. I'm looking for Marty Adams," he said, slightly hoping this was not him.

"What you want him for?"

"Well, that's my business, isn't it?"

The man stared at Mac from dark blue eyes that even twinkled in this dim light. "We don't like cops coming in here and messing with our friends," he said.

"Just back down, Godzilla," Don said. "We need to talk to the guy about his girlfriend."

Mac showed the man a picture of the victim. "You ever seen that girl in here?" he asked.

The man looked at Mac. "Not in a while," he said.

"You gonna tell us where Marty is or not?" Don asked.

"He ain't here."

"Then where is he?" Danny asked.

"How should I know? He doesn't stay here all the time."

"You know where he lives?"

"No."

"I find that hard to believe," Don said. "I think you keep up with all your lowlife friends."

"Look," the man said. "Marty hasn't been here in several days. I don't know where he is. He used to bring that girl in here and I told him to get her out of here. Then one day he started coming in without her."

"How long ago was that?" Mac asked.

"Probably two weeks ago. I don't know where he is right now. Like I said, he hasn't been in."

Mac stared at the guy not knowing whether he was telling the truth or not. However, he had no evidence to say otherwise. Mac turned to leave and Don and Danny followed him. "You think he's telling the truth?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Mac replied.

They went outside and then Mac stopped. Danny shook his finger in his ear. "Wow, that place is loud," he said.

"You two go around back and see if anyone suddenly comes out of there," Mac said.

Don went one way and Danny went the other while Mac went to the Avalanche in case they had to get after someone. Don came to the corner of the building and peeped around. Sure enough, there was someone coming out the back door. He had nasty looking black hair and was wearing threadbare clothes. He was in a hurry too. Danny came around the other corner of the bar just as the guy was about to go that way. The man stopped in his tracks and turned only to find Don Flack coming from that way.

The man turned and ran down a narrow alley and Don and Danny went after him. Don got his radio and let Mac know they were in pursuit. Mac cranked the Avalanche and went around to head the guy off as Don was telling him which way they were going.

Marty Adams, who was the chasee, went around the corner of the building, which was even dark this time of the day. He went into an even darker alley, which Don thought must never see a ray of sunshine and there were plenty of rats to testify to that fact. From the looks of it, Danny thought the cats and the rats were having nightly battles and it was not always the cats who won.

Don and Danny could not help but wonder where the guy was going down here in this dungeon. Soon, the guy went into an old brick building that looked like it might have been standing there all of a hundred years and might not have been used for fifty of them. They stood outside the door, one on each side with their weapons drawn. "You know, there's no telling what might be in there," Don said.

"Only one way to find out," Danny replied. He turned the doorknob and found that it was not locked. He shoved the door open and they looked into complete darkness, with some light streaming in through broken windows. "How can it be that dark in there?"

"I don't know, but I want out of this part of the city."

Don and Danny went on inside being careful not to outline themselves in the doorway although they did not think there was enough light out there to outline anything. They let their eyes adjust as they tried to get a glimpse of their prey. They began moving into the building and then heard something to their right. They both turned that way and aimed their weapons. "Marty Adams!" Don yelled. "You need to come out! We need to talk to you about Linda Warner!"

Don and Danny waited for a moment to see if Adams would respond. "I didn't kill her!" he yelled.

"But you know who did, don't you?" Danny asked as he and Don moved forward again.

"Come on out!" Don said. "You're in trouble now for fleeing from the police. We can talk about this!"

Just then, they saw Adams come from behind a wall with his hands behind his head. "I didn't kill her," he said.

Don and Danny moved slowly over to Adams. Danny held his weapon on him while Don searched him. "He's clean," Don said. He put his weapon away and cuffed Adams. "Why did you run?"

"Cause I know you guys think I killed her," Adams replied.

"That's not the way we work. Why didn't you come and report this murder?"

"I didn't know she was dead until I found her and I didn't know what to do."

"Let's talk about this downtown," Danny suggested. "I want out of this place."

Don called Mac and told him where they were. They walked Adams back over to Don's car, where they met the guy from the bar. "Where you taking him?" he asked.

"To jail," Don replied. "Get back in that bar before I decide to come back in there and clean house."

The guy glared at Don and folded his arms. "He didn't kill Linda," he said.

"And do you know who did?" Don asked.

"No."

"Then stay out of this and get back in there."

The guy turned and went back to the bar. Don and Danny got Adams into Don's car just as Mac was arriving back with the Avalanche. He got out and came over there. "What did he say?" Mac asked.

"He says he didn't kill her," Don replied. "And Godzilla in there says he didn't do it too."

Mac blew out a breath. "They must have some idea who did it," he said.

"I think so but we may have to beat it out of them."

"I hope not."

They went back down to the precinct and got the prisoner booked and into interrogation. Mac went in there and sat down at the table across from Marty Adams. "So, you were Linda Warner's boyfriend," he said.

Adams seemed terribly nervous to Mac. "When can I get out of here?" he asked.

"When you answer my questions."

"I didn't kill her."

"I didn't say you did, but somebody kept that girl's body somewhere hid for two weeks and then threw it out in a dumpster last night," Mac declared. "Now, somebody knows something about that. Was she kept at that rathole you were in today?"

"Man, we didn't know what to do when we found out she was dead."

Mac stared at him a moment. "How about this: you pick up the phone and call nine-one-one and say 'My girlfriend is dead and I think she was murdered'?" Mac leaned on the table. "That usually works."

"Yeah, but you guys would have thought we killed her."

"Why?"

"Cause, we're ex-cons."

Mac frowned. "What difference does that make? If you didn't kill her, you didn't whether you have been in prison or not."

Adams leaned on the table. "I know how the system works," he said. "You would have kept us in jail until you figured it out or until you could pin it on us."

"That is not so. I don't put people in prison for something that someone else did if I can help it. That's enough of that. Now tell me who killed this girl."

"Roy probably did it. He was her pimp. He hated the fact that she was dating me on the side."

"Then why didn't he kill you?"

Adams stared at Mac. "I don't know."

"Who else was she involved with? Did she deal drugs?"

Adams nodded. "Yeah. She dealt for some guy named Patrick. She lost some of his drugs one night and man, was he mad."

Mac wrote that down. "What is Patrick's last name?" he asked.

"I don't know. They all call him 'razor'."

"Does he hang out in that shack down there?"

"No. He has his own establishment."

Mac looked at the man. "Where?"

"It's called the White Evergreen."

Mac frowned but he wrote that down. "And what about this Roy? Does he have a last name?"

"Terwilleger."

Mac shook his head. "Does he have his own establishment too?" he asked.

"No, but he has a fancy apartment."

Mac wrote down all the information he could get out of Adams. He looked at him. "Why did you run?"

"I already told you," Adams said. "Cause I knew you guys would think I did it."

"And you're telling me that you kept that dead body somewhere for two weeks and then dumped it in that garbage bin? Why that garbage bin?"

"Cause, Joe's a friend."

"So, you can dump dead bodies in his garbage bin because he's a friend?"

"Yeah."

Mac rolled his eyes and stood up. "Where did you store that body?" he asked. "And where did you find it?"

"He killed her out there behind the bar and we just kept her in one of the trash bins outside."

"And all your pals in that bar knew about it?"

"Like I said, we didn't know what to do."

Mac shook his head. "That's no excuse. You're all adults. You could have called the police."

Mac walked out of the interrogation room to where Don was waiting. "You ever heard anything like that?" Don asked.

"Not in a while," Mac replied.

"So are we going to another crazy bar?"

"I hope this one is not like that last one."

"You and me both. I still feel like something is crawling on me."

Mac shook his head. "It was bad, that's for sure."


	8. Chapter 8

Mac went back up to the lab and dropped the folder on his desk. He sat down in his chair and sighed. Jo came into the office. "Well, what happened?" she asked.

Mac looked at her. "We have two suspects," he replied. "We went to the bottom of New York and found one guy who found his girlfriend's body, and he and his pals over there stored it because they were afraid we would think they killed her so they didn't even bother calling the police. Now, we have to go to another bar owned by a drug lord who may or may not have killed this girl because she lost some of his drugs and then there's her pimp who may have killed her because she was dating Marty on the side."

Jo folded her arms. "Sounds like a lot of fun," she said. "I'm going home at about six today."

Mac looked at her with one of his serious looks. "I'll be there as soon as I can," he said.

"I'll be waiting for you."

Jo left the office and went back to her own office. Mac sighed and wrote out some of his report while he waited for Don to locate the two suspects. They would go after the one with the bar first. Soon, Don had the information they needed and he called Mac.

Mac went down to the Avalanche, along with Danny. "This could be dangerous," Mac said. "These guys usually have an army around them, you know."

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "I just hope we can find out who killed this girl."

They went over to the White Evergreen along with Don. They were surprised when they walked in. The bar was well lit and in the middle was a big fountain that was shaped like a big white evergreen tree. Mac, Don and Danny stared at it a moment. "Well, I guess that's why they call it the white evergreen," Danny remarked.

"I don't think I've ever been in here," Don said.

"Probably keeps it under control so he can get away with his drug running," Mac pointed out.

"Right."

They walked over to the bar where two women were tending. They were both dressed in white fuzzy sweaters with white mini-skirts and a white fuzzy hat. "Hi," one of them said. "What can I get you?"

Mac showed her his badge. "We're looking for Patrick or 'Razor'," he said.

"He's in his private booth back there," the woman said pointing to a booth in the back of the bar that looked like it was fully furnished with cushions of all sorts and a bed in the middle surrounded by a sectional sofa.

Mac, Don and Danny headed back that way but they were interrupted by two guys dressed in black who looked like they spent a lot of their time lifting weights. "The boss doesn't want to be disturbed," one of them said.

"I need to talk to him," Mac said. "And I'm 'going' to talk to him, so just move out of my way."

The bodyguards stared at Mac a moment, seeing no fear in his eyes. Don and Danny just stared at them. The guards finally moved and Mac, Danny and Don went on over to the sofa/bed where Razor was lying in the bed with two women and there were several more women on the sofa. "Are you Razor?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, who wants to know?" the man asked.

Mac showed him his badge. "I'm Detective Taylor," he said.

"Detective Taylor," Razor said thoughtfully. "I've heard of you. It's an honor to have you in my club."

Mac frowned. "I think you know why I'm here," he said. "Why don't we go somewhere so we can talk?"

"Have a seat."

"Hey, you heard the man," Don said. "Get up and get some clothes on. Some of us have other things to do in life besides lying around having sex at our leisure!"

Razor glared at them but he got up and they went to an office in the back of the bar. "So, what do you know about Linda Warner?" Mac asked.

"I don't know nothing about her," Razor replied.

"Wrong answer. We know you had her dealing drugs for you and she lost some. You killed her for it, didn't you?"

"Prove it!"

"Hey, Mac, why don't we take this guy downtown?" Don asked.

"That's a good idea," Mac replied. "I'm sure we can find a lot of stuff in this place that's illegal."

Just then, Razor ran for the back of the office just as his two bodyguards came in the other door. Mac, Don and Danny whirled around just in time to look into the barrels of two automatic weapons. They scattered and dove for cover just before bullets found the space they had been taking up. Mac could not get off a shot because he was behind a couch and the bullets from the automatic weapons were making hash of it. Don was behind a desk. He shot back at the two and they separated. Danny was behind the corner of the wall in the back of the office. He was trying to return fire as well.

"I'm gonna try to go after him," Mac said referring to Razor. He crawled toward the door that Razor had gone out while Don and Danny were returning fire as much as they could.

Mac got out the door and got to his feet just in time to almost get a bullet from Razor's gun. He was in a hallway that was dimly lit. Mac dove for the floor and returned fire to Razor who jumped around a corner at the other end of the short hallway. Mac got up and ran the way Razor had gone as he heard his footsteps going further away. He stopped at the corner and peeped around. Razor was going out a door at the end of that hallway. Mac ran for the door and got it open in time to see Razor arriving at a car. Mac ran for the car and got there before Razor could get in.

Mac grabbed Razor and shoved him against the car, but Razor hit Mac with the gun that he still had in his hand which was empty now. Mac shook his head slightly to clear it and grabbed Razor's hand before he could hit him again. He jerked his arm around behind him and shoved him against the car again. "You're under arrest!" Mac said.

Razor did not want to give in. He kicked Mac's knee with his booted foot. Mac got his leg between Razor's legs and jerked his right leg out from under him, bringing him to the ground. Then he finally got cuffs on him. "Like I said, you're under arrest," Mac said angrily.

"I didn't do nothing!" Razor declared.

"You've done plenty!"

Just then, Don Flack came out the back door. "You okay, Mac?" he asked.

"Yeah," Mac replied and gave the prisoner to Don.

Mac grimaced as he started back toward the bar. His knee was sore but it would be okay. However, he knew he was going to have a bruise where that bullet hit his vest which was on his left side ribs. He sighed as he was glad it was no worse.

They went back inside where Mac discovered that Don and Danny had killed one of the bodyguards and the other had surrendered. He was sitting on the sofa in the office handcuffed. "Well, now you two have got some explaining to do," Mac said still trying to get his breath back.

They took the two prisoners out to Don's car. Mac discovered that the bar had emptied out while they were having their shootout. He supposed when bullets started flying, people did not want to be around. "Well, do you think we have the right guy?" Don asked.

"We'll see," Mac replied. "He ran from us."

"Well, so did Marty Adams, but he wasn't our killer."

"This guy is dirtier than Adams was. He definitely could have killed that girl."

"Are we picking up that other guy Roy Terwilleger?"

"Yeah, let's get them all at once and then we can question them and get to the bottom of this."

Mac looked at his watch. It was after 5 now. He thought maybe he would get to Jo's apartment by 9. He could do no better in this situation. But then again, he knew she would understand.

By the time Mac got into the interrogation room with Razor, it was already 6 pm. Don had picked up Terwilleger without too much trouble. Mac was pretty sure Razor had killed that girl. He had seen plenty of murders because of drugs.

Mac sat down at the table. "So, your name is Patrick King," he said. "But you like to be called Razor. You want to tell me why you killed this girl?" Mac laid a picture of the victim on the table. "You killed her because she lost your drugs."

King just sat there and glared at Mac. "Silence won't help you now," Mac said. "You stabbed this girl twelve times." He had seen Sid's final report about the victim. "Why twelve?"

King folded his arms. "Whether you confess or not, we have got you on drug charges," Mac said. "It's hard to find good help these days. Your bodyguard told us a whole big story about you and he knows you killed that girl. You didn't even have one of your goons do it. That must mean it was personal."

"I was tired of her messing up my business," King said. "She was always sharing with her friends and then they pocketed the money and never paid me."

"So you killed her." Mac glared at him. "You're going away for a long time and maybe you'll get the death penalty." Mac put his evidence back in his folder and went back out of the interrogation room.

"Old Roy in there didn't have much to say," Don said. "I've got him on pimping though."

"King in there killed that girl. Get him locked up."

"Will do."

Mac went back up to his office and wrote out his report. He yawned as he was writing. He was glad this case was over and he hoped he did not get anymore called tonight. By the time he got the report done and signed the others in the lab, it was after 9:00.

Mac got his coat and went to his apartment. He got a quick shower and fresh clothes and headed for Jo's apartment. His phone rang as he was getting into a cab. "Hello," he answered.

"Where are you?" Jo asked.

"I'm on my way. I had to freshen up."

"I'm waiting for you."

"I'll be there soon."


	9. Chapter 9

Mac arrived at Jo's apartment building and went inside. He called and told her that he was there and she had the door open when he arrived. "Come in," she said. "I'm cooking something right now." She headed for the kitchen as Mac was coming in.

Mac went in and took off his coat and hung it up. "So, you solved that case," Jo asked as Mac came into the kitchen.

Mac nodded. "Yeah. The drug dealer did it."

Jo put her arms around Mac's neck and kissed him. "Mmm," she said. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, I am," Mac replied.

"Then sit down and prepare to have something better than what we had for lunch today."

Mac smiled as he sat down at the table and rubbed his face and yawned. "You mean you made some pickles?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

Jo narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh you," she said and turned back to the stove.

Soon, Jo had the hamburgers ready. Mac smiled as she set them on the table. "You like hamburgers, don't you?" he asked.

"I do," Jo replied. She sat down across from him and opened the soda. "I want us to have just a good old time tonight."

Mac smiled at her. "Me too."

They started eating. "Mmmm, this is good," Mac commented.

"Thanks," Jo replied. "Are you going to tell me some more of your stories now?"

"Do I have to now?"

"Oh, please. I want to hear more. I enjoy laughing and there's not much to laugh about in our line of work."

Mac chuckled. "I could have laughed today. You should have seen that bar we went to, the Green Light Cavern."

"Tell me about it."

Mac laughed as he chewed another bite of the hamburger. "You have never seen such a place in your life," he said. "We could hear the music outside before we ever got out of the cars and this place looked like it had never been painted. It was one of those plank buildings and it got its name from that traffic light on the outside of the building. That word 'cavern' was a good one because it was so dark in there, you couldn't see anything and it was lit with green lamps on the walls. And that music…" Mac rubbed his ear. "…it was so loud it could knock you down. I thought I would have to leave and you had to yell to talk to anybody."

Jo smiled at Mac's description. "And there were people in this bar?"

"Yes, and they seemed perfectly alright with how it was. The bar looked like…I don't know what it looked like but it wasn't a built bar, it was more like something that had been dragged in there and just set up to look like a bar so everybody would know where to go and get their drinks."

Jo laughed. "You are so funny."

"They had some old dart boards in there and they must have been used for fifty years," Mac continued. "I don't think they would have held a dart if you threw one at them." He shook his head. "I have never seen anything like it, and Don and Danny had been in there before."

"As patrons?"

"No, as cops. They advised me to wear a bulletproof vest and be ready to fight."

"But you didn't have to fight?"

"No, not today, but I did get a bruise or two when I tangled with that other guy."

"So what was the other bar like?"

"Oh, it was the complete opposite of the Green Light but that guy had a bed set up back there surrounded by a sectional sofa and women sitting there like they were waiting their turn. It was disgusting."

"So he was the one who did it."

"Yes. He ran from us and tried to have us mowed down with automatic weapons."

"I'm glad they missed."

When they were done eating, they went into the living room and sat on the couch. Jo turned the TV on and turned the lights off except the lamp. She looked at the bruise on Mac's face. "That's where he hit me with his gun," Mac said.

Jo kissed the bruise. "Are you sure you don't need to see a doctor?" she asked.

"It will be alright. It's sore but I've had worse."

Jo stared at him a moment. "You have?"

Mac nodded. "I have. I've been at this a long time, not to mention when I was in the Marines and all that happened there."

Jo lay her head on his shoulder. "Do you think you'll retire early?" she asked.

"You think I need to?" Mac asked.

"I don't know. I just think it would be nice to retire early. Maybe go somewhere and take a less stressful job."

"It would." Mac thought he would love to move away and get a less stressful job maybe as a sheriff or something.

As they were watching the movie, Mac started to get sleepy. He shook his head and tried to keep his eyes open. He thought it was easy to stay awake all night when he was working because of the stress and everything but when he relaxed, he got so sleepy he could hardly stay awake. He finally rested his head on the back of the sofa and let sleep take him over.

Jo realized Mac was asleep when she said something about the movie and he did not reply. She looked at him and smiled. She thought he must feel relaxed and she knew he had been getting more sleep, for one thing, his eyes did not look so tired. She looked at the bruise on his face. She thought it looked painful. She put her arms around him and listened to his heart beating. It sounded so strong. He took a deep breath and shifted slightly but did not wake up.

Soon, Jo realized Mac was twitching in his sleep and his muscles seemed tense. She looked at him and knew he was having a nightmare. "They're in there," Mac whispered. "And they know we're out here."

Jo sat up and watched Mac as he tensed up like he was on the battlefield. He grabbed the arm of the couch. "Mac," Jo whispered.

Mac's whole body trembled. Jo thought she must have startled him. "Wake up," she whispered.

"I'm not asleep," Mac replied. "I don't sleep on duty."

"You're not on duty, Darling. Wake up."

Mac seemed to be confused by that statement. He turned the other way with his back to Jo. She touched his shoulder and he shook as though he had been shot. "Mac, wake up. It's me, Jo."

Mac grabbed the side of the sofa cushion that he was sitting on. "No," he said. "We have to wait for the others."

"No one else is coming," Jo said. "It's just me and you."

Mac shook his head. "We can't handle this alone."

Jo touched Mac's face. "Wake up, Mac," she said gently.

Mac suddenly sat straight up almost falling off the couch. He looked around him and realized he was on the couch. He looked at Jo. "I was having a nightmare, wasn't I?" he asked embarrassed.

"Yes, you were," Jo replied.

"I'm sorry." Mac rubbed his face.

"Don't apologize for that."

Mac looked at her. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

Jo kissed him. "You didn't scare me," she said and kissed him again.

Mac leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Jo moved closer to him and lay her head on his shoulder and rubbed his chest. "I have those nightmares sometimes," Mac said.

"It's okay." Jo hugged him and Mac grimaced and jumped a little. "What is it?"

"Patrick King shot at me," Mac said. "The vest stopped the bullet but it doesn't stop the bruise, you know."

Jo swallowed, thankful that he had been wearing a vest. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," she said.

"Don't worry about it." Mac looked at her. "I hope you can tolerate my nightmares," he said.

"I can," Jo replied.

Mac looked at the ceiling again. "I have them quite often and I have found myself in the floor before," he said. "Most of the time I don't know I've had a nightmare until I wake up wondering where I am or thinking I'm in the middle of a war. And they're not always about the war. I have other dreams too."

"Like what?"

"Sometimes about Claire…everything."

Jo touched his face. "You stop worrying about that," she said. "It will take a lot more than nightmares for you to get rid of me."

Mac ran his fingers through her hair. "I know how disturbing they can be," he said. "I used to scare Claire sometimes."

"Mac, even if I get a little scared, I will be here for you. Russ used to have them too."

"I wish I could stop having them, but there's no way."

Jo stroked his hair. "It's part of your life, so it will be part of mine too."

When the first light of day came through the window, Mac found that he was asleep on Jo's sofa. He sat up and looked out the window and then looked at his watch. It was almost 8:00. He sat up and got his shoes on and just then, Jo came from the kitchen. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" he asked.

"You were sleeping so well," Jo said.

"I'm supposed to be there at eight."

"Mac, you don't have to be there every minute of the day."

"I don't want to get into anymore trouble."

"I was fixing breakfast for us."

"I'll have to skip it. I have to get to the office and I have to go home first."

Jo walked over to him. "Okay, if you must."

Mac looked at her. "I'm sorry but I have to."

"You could at least let me throw it in something for you."

"Sure, just do it fast."

Jo hurried into the kitchen and got a sandwich bag and put Mac's breakfast into it and went into the living room. "Hope you enjoy it," she said.

"I'm sure I will," Mac replied. He smiled at her. "I would kiss you but I might have morning breath."

Jo smiled. "Kiss me anyway."

Mac kissed her and then went out the door. He had to get home and get changed. He had a shower the evening before. He thought maybe he would just go casual today. He did not have to wear a suit. He went down and got a cab to the office and ate on the way. The breakfast was delicious and she had even included some coffee. He sipped the coffee the rest of the way to the office. He got out and blew out a breath as he looked up at the building. He yawned as he walked toward the door. He hoped he would not fall asleep today or yawn all day. Just as he was about to go in the door, someone yelled, "Detective Taylor!"

Mac looked to see a woman running toward him. He instinctively reached for his side, but as usual, he had left his weapon in the office. The woman came on toward him. "Detective Taylor, I have to talk to you," the woman said.

"Are you in trouble?" Mac asked. "What's wrong?"

The woman clutched Mac's forearm. She stared at him a moment and then gasped. "Someone is going to try to kill you, Detective," she said with a horrified look on her face.

Mac scowled and pulled his arm away from her. "Who are you?" he asked. "How do you know this?"

"I've seen it!"

Mac frowned. "You've seen it? How?"

"I have visions. Someone is going to try to kill you, Detective! I am telling you!"

"Who are you?"

The woman backed away. "I've warned you," she said. "That's all I can do! Beware of lions, Detective!"

"Wait a minute. Come back here," Mac said as the woman turned and ran. He went after her but there were too many people on the street and he lost her. He looked for her but could not find her.

Mac walked back to the precinct and went inside. Don Flack was sitting at his desk. "Morning, Mac," he said.

"Morning," Mac said, still scowling at what he had just been told.

"Something wrong?" Don asked noticing the puzzled look on Mac's face.

"Some woman was out front and she said someone was going to try to kill me."

Don sat up straight. "Kill you? Who?"

"She didn't say. She just said she 'saw' it."

Don leaned back. "Oh, one of those," he said.

"She said beware of lions, whatever that means."

"Maybe you should do that. I wouldn't want to trust a lion."

Mac gave Don a tolerant look. "Talk to you later, Don," he said and went to the elevator.

Mac went up to the office. Danny and Lindsey were in the lab as usual. Mac waved to them as he passed by on the way to his office.

"Just look," Danny said. "He's not even wearing a suit today."

Lindsey giggled at Danny. "You're so funny," she said.

"Hey, I can't help it if I'm observant."

"Observant? You can't stand it because you don't know what Mac and Jo are doing."

"Oh, I think I know what they're doing."

"You don't know anything. Just because he comes in without a suit. Maybe he doesn't want to wear a suit today."

"But he's a little late, and yesterday…well, you know what happened then."

"Forget it."

Soon everyone else started arriving at the lab. Mac's desk phone rang and he answered it, "Taylor."

"Detective Taylor," a female voice said.

"Yes? Who is this?"

"I'm the woman you met outside. You have to listen to me when I tell you that someone is going to try to kill you."

"Who are you? What are you? A psychic?"

"That's what some people call it. My name is Julia. You have to listen to me. When I get these visions, they always come true."

"How often do you get them?"

"Whenever they are necessary I suppose. Just be careful."

"Hey, tell me what you're talking about."

"Just beware of lions, Detective."

Mac heard the phone call end. He hung up the phone and stared at it a moment. He wondered what Jo would have to say about this. He did not put much store in psychics.

Mac looked at the stack of paperwork on his desk. He supposed he needed to be working on that instead of worrying about what Julia said. He figured he was safe from lions in this office. He opened a folder and began looking over the file inside as he yawned again. He did not remember falling asleep again after he had woke up with Jo sitting on the couch, but he certainly felt sleepy this morning.


	10. Chapter 10

Jo came in to the office at 9 am. She went straight to Mac's office. He was engrossed in paperwork but he was yawning when she arrived at the office. Jo smiled and knocked on the door. Mac looked up and waved her in. "Hi," Jo said and put her hands on her hips. "Are you tired?"

Mac smiled. "I'm not really 'tired', I'm sleepy," he said.

"What's the difference?"

"Well, tired is when you feel drained. Sleepy is when you need sleep. Everybody needs sleep whether they get tired or not."

Jo considered that. "Well, when I think of my kids, I can understand that logic."

"Did you need something?" Mac asked.

"Just wondering what our plans are for tonight."

Mac looked at her and considered that. "What do you want to do?" he asked.

"I would like to go out tonight…unless you get engrossed in another case. Then we'll just repeat last night." Jo walked over to Mac's desk. "I thoroughly enjoyed that and I wouldn't mind spending every evening like that."

Mac looked down at his files and shook his head. "Well, I'm sorry I fell asleep," he said.

"That's alright," Jo said. "Don't worry about that."

"I guess I'm not used to being up so late," Mac said with a smile.

Jo laughed as she turned to go to her office. "We'll talk later," she said. She smiled over her shoulder at him as she headed for her office.

Mac could not help but smile as he bit his lip. He loved talking and laughing with Jo. He got to work on his paperwork again. He would have to think about all that later.

Danny and Lindsey were in their own office working on paperwork as well. "You know, if we put all the paperwork together that we have ever had to do, it would probably fill up this entire building we're in and might even overflow it," Danny remarked.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Lindsey replied. "It might fill up all of New York."

"I definitely say the rumor about Mac and Jo is true. They smile at each other and talk quietly together."

"Does that mean they're having an affair?"

"Affair? They're not married."

"Well, it could still be called an affair. I definitely think Jo has something for Mac. When we're talking and he walks by, she watches him and almost forgets what I am telling her."

Danny looked at Lindsey. "You're kidding," he said.

"Not at all. She definitely has the hots for him."

"Let's talk about something else."

Lindsey looked at Danny with a smile. "Why?" she asked. "You're usually so interested in Mac's personal life."

"Yeah, but now that we know he has one, I don't want to hear about it," Danny said.

Lindsey laughed. "You're pathetic."

Mac finished some more paperwork and then yawned again. It was so warm in the office, he thought he would fall asleep. He looked out of his office and did not see anyone. He turned his chair around sideways and leaned back. _Only a few minutes, _he thought. He was soon dozing.

Mac was awakened by someone saying his name. "Mac!" they said.

Mac opened his eyes to see the chief standing in his office. Mac stood up. "Chief," he said.

"Up late last night?"

"It's just warm in here," Mac said. "You wanted something?"

"Yeah. I want the report on that case you finished last night."

Mac scowled. "I already sent that up to you," he said.

"I didn't get it. Look again, Taylor. I want that file."

"Yes, sir."

The chief folded his arms. "Why don't you get some sleep tonight?" he asked.

"I got sleep last night, I'm just sleepy. I promise you I sent that report and the file was supposed to be here."

"Just find it."

The chief left and Mac sat down in his chair. He could not have forgotten that report. He remembered sending it last night. He searched through his desk drawers but did not find the report or the file. He searched through all the files on his desk but it was not there either. Mac knew he had finished that report. He thought of what he did last night before he left the office. He had left the report in the basket on his desk that was labeled for pickup and he had also sent a copy over email to the chief…or that's what he thought he had done. He could not have been that careless. He looked at his emails and did not see one that he had sent to the chief last night. He looked in the deleted emails folder but it was not there either. "That's impossible," he said to himself.

Mac got up and went into the computer lab. "Adam," he said.

Adam whirled around in his chair as he was startled by the sternness in Mac's voice. "Mac," he said.

"See if you can find an email that I sent to the chief last night."

"Yes, sir." Adam turned back to the computer and typed. He soon had the records of emails sent within the building. He found Mac's file and searched it. "No, sir, there doesn't seem to be one from you to the chief."

Mac leaned on the computer desk. "I know I sent that email, Adam," he said. "I haven't lost my mind yet."

Adam did not know what to say. "I can look some more and see if it's lost somewhere in the system."

"How could it get lost in the system?"

"I don't know. I'm just trying to figure this out."

Mac realized he was taking his frustration out on Adam. "I'm sorry, Adam." Mac rubbed his hair back and blew out a breath. "I know I wrote that report and sent it to the chief as well as made a copy and had it in the 'out' basket on my desk."

Adam stared at Mac a moment. He did not think he had ever seen Mac so distraught over a file. "Maybe it got misplaced by someone," he suggested.

"Just see if you can find it."

Mac left the computer lab and headed back to his office. Jo saw him as he went by but he did not even look toward her. She went down to his office and found him looking under his desk. "Mac, what are you doing?" Jo asked.

Mac looked at her. "I lost a file," he said as he stood up.

"Well, just relax. It will turn up."

Mac looked in all the baskets on his desk again and in the desk drawers. Jo watched him a moment. "Mac, it must have been picked up," she said.

Mac looked at her. "The chief said he didn't receive it," he said.

"What are you getting at? You think because you're trying to enjoy life you're getting slack in your job." Jo folded her arms. "I won't let you do this to yourself. Maybe the chief misplaced it or the person who picked it up."

Mac frowned. "But the email is missing too and so is the file," he said and looked at Jo.

Jo stared at him a moment. "The email?"

"Yes. I sent the chief a copy of the report through email like I always do. I know I did it, Jo."

Jo thought a moment. "Who could have intercepted that email?" she asked.

Mac scowled as he remembered that encounter he had on the street that morning. "I don't know," he said. He looked at Jo. "I had a strange meeting with someone this morning and she even called me after I got here in the office."

"What did she say?"

Mac looked at Jo wondering what she would think about that. "She said she is a psychic and that she has visions and she told me that someone was going to try to kill me," Mac said. "She also told me to beware of lions."

Jo stared at Mac a moment. "Lions?"

"That's what she said. If you see any lions here in the lab, make sure they don't come this way."

"Mac, don't be so sarcastic."

"It's ridiculous. I haven't seen a live lion in years. I don't even go to the zoo."

"Well, be careful anyway."

Mac sat down in his chair. "I can't find that file," he said. "I know I had it here."

Jo could not imagine what happened to the file. Mac got up and went to Danny and Lindsey's office. "Have either of you seen the file on Linda Warner?" he asked.

"Not since yesterday," Danny replied. "Why?"

"It's missing."

Danny and Lindsey looked through all the files on their desks. "It's not here," Lindsey said. "Where did you have it last?"

"In my office," Mac said. He thought a moment. "I wrote my report, I sent a copy to the chief, and that has disappeared too and I put the report in the basket to be picked up. I put the file in the desk drawer to be filed today. All of it is missing."

"Are you saying that someone in the lab messed up the files?" Lindsey asked.

"Something happened," Mac replied sternly. "I don't know who did what, but someone has misplaced that file, the report and they intercepted my email somehow and made it look like I never sent it."

Lindsey and Danny could not imagine anyone doing something like that. "Well, let's not panic," Jo said. "Let's search the lab and maybe we will find it. Maybe it got misplaced."

They all began a search of the lab. They searched through all the files that were being used in the lab to make sure the Warner file had not gotten mixed up in them but there was no sign of it. "I can't believe this," Mac said. He looked at Jo, Lindsey and Danny. "Do you know what this means?"

They knew exactly what it meant. "It means we have someone in this lab who can't be trusted," Jo declared.

"There are two new interns," Lindsey pointed out. "One of them is a messenger."

Mac considered that. "Get their names," he said. "I want this kept quiet. I'm going to redo my report and send it to the chief."

Mac headed back to his office. Jo looked at Danny and Lindsey. "How could someone get away with something like this?" she asked.

"There are a lot of files that go through this lab," Lindsey pointed out. "If someone wanted to take one of them, I guess it would be easy."

"Well, something is not right here and we are going to figure out what."

Mac sat down at his desk and wrote out another report. He sent the chief a copy and then carried the paper copy up there himself. "What's going on, Taylor?" the chief asked as Mac handed him the copy of the report.

"I don't know," Mac replied. "The Warner file has gone missing from the lab and my report went missing as well."

"How could that happen?"

"I don't know but I intend to find out."

"Keep me posted."

Mac turned and went back up to the lab. He was getting angrier by the minute. He did not like the idea that someone was working in his lab under his trust and guidance and they had betrayed that trust. He walked over to Jo's office. "You got those new interns yet?" he asked.

"We have the messenger who was working last night," Jo replied. "Patricia Stanford."

Mac took the file on the woman. "She's only been working here two weeks?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I want to talk to her."

"She's not here today."

"Then she is about to get a visit from the boss."


	11. Chapter 11

Mac got the address for Patricia Stanford, got his coat and headed for the elevator. Jo grabbed her coat and went after him. "Mac!" she said. "Mac!" She could tell by the way he was walking that he was totally mad.

Mac pressed the elevator button just as Jo walked up beside him. "Mac, you have to remember that this person may not have done anything," Jo said.

Mac looked at her. "Somebody did, whether it was by accident or deliberate. That file had important information in it about how the evidence was processed. There's going to be a trial, Jo. Do you really want that guy to get off because of a technicality?"

"I know how serious this is, Mac, but we can make the file again."

"That doesn't look good for this lab," Mac said as the elevator opened.

They went into the elevator and Mac pressed the close-door button. "What are you planning to do?" Jo asked.

Mac thought a moment. He was not sure what he was going to do. If he found that the intern had misplaced that file, they would be looking for a job. He knew that for sure. Jo looked at Mac as she noticed his silence. She knew he was angry to the bone and she thought he was blaming himself for this. "Mac, this is not your fault," Jo said.

Mac sighed. He did not feel like being consoled today. The elevator doors opened, and he headed out to the Avalanche. Jo followed him and got in. She was going to make sure he did not come down too hard on this new intern. He had no proof that she lost the file.

Mac was steaming as he was driving. "I know what you're doing," he said. "There is no room for slack in that office."

"I know that, Mac," Jo said. "But this person has only been there two weeks and you don't know that she did it."

"Who do you think did?" Mac looked at her with a look she had not seen before. "You think I lost it?"

"I didn't say that."

"Well, if I did, it was because I was so preoccupied with getting to you last night."

Jo's mouth dropped open. "And you're blaming that on me?"

"You tease me all the time!"

"That is rude, Mac Taylor!"

"Maybe we should never have started this in the first place!"

"You're just saying that because you want to have an excuse for forgetting something! You still think you're not allowed to have fun or enjoy anything and if you do anything like that, you're going to lose control of that lab! You can't live in your job, Mac! You have a right to have a life too! Stop blaming me and stop blaming yourself! This has nothing to do with our relationship! You're just beating yourself up for allowing yourself to enjoy something!"

Mac frowned and stared out the window. He knew she was right but he did not want to listen right now. He was sitting in traffic and he was in no mood. He blew the horn and let the window down. "Hey, why don't you get this line moving!" he yelled.

"Why don't you keep your shirt on!" someone else said in the next lane.

Mac glared at him. Jo grabbed Mac's arm and pulled him away from the window. "Stop that," she said. "You're making a fool of yourself just because a folder got misplaced in the lab."

Mac let the window up and tried to calm himself down. He looked at Jo. "I'm sorry," he said. "This is serious though."

"I know, but you don't have to be ridiculous."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said."

"I know that."

Mac looked at her a moment. "You're not upset?" he asked.

"I was getting there," Jo replied. "But I knew you didn't mean it."

"How did you know?"

Jo looked at him. "I just know."

Mac turned his attention back to the traffic. "You're teasing me again."

"I love to see you squirm. You need to squirm."

"Why?"

"Because it lets me know that you're paying attention."

"And I have to squirm for that?"

"Yes. You're so shy."

Mac sighed. "I can't help it."

"That's not a bad thing. I'm not shy so we complement each other."

"You're definitely good for me."

"You're good for me too, Mac Taylor. I feel like a woman again, not just a mother. I love being a mother, but I want to be a woman too."

Mac considered that. "I guess I never thought of that."

"Being a mother is not always easy. A woman needs other things too. She needs adult companionship."

Mac felt much calmer now. He knew he would have to handle this rationally although he wanted to fire this intern on the spot and make it where she could not get a job anywhere in a lab again. They soon arrived at the apartment building where Patricia Stanford lived. They went in and found the right apartment and Mac knocked on the door. He waited and knocked again but there was no answer. "Maybe she's not home," Jo said.

"I just have a feeling that there's something else going on here," Mac said.

"It is odd that all that disappeared."

"Right. It couldn't have happened without someone deliberately trying to cause trouble. That's what upsets me the most. Let's go and see if the landlord can let us in this apartment."

Jo followed Mac to the landlord's apartment. "You got a warrant?" the landlord asked.

"I just want to see if anyone's there," Mac said.

The landlord considered that. He went and let them into the apartment but there was no one there. "Did you see her come in last night?" Mac asked.

"No," the landlord replied. "I don't keep track of my tenants. As long as they pay, I don't care where they go or when they come back."

Mac and Jo looked around. It did not look like anyone had been in the apartment the night before because the bed was not messed up. Mac looked at Jo. "I'll just bet she's not coming back," Mac said.

"I would probably agree," Jo replied. She walked over to the other side of the bedroom where there was a crib. "She has a child."

Mac looked at the crib. "Where is she now?"

Mac was not sure what to do next but he wanted to know why Patricia Stanford would steal a file from the lab. He called Don Flack and told him to find out if Patricia Stanford had any connections with Patrick King. "I'll get on it," Don said.

Mac put his phone away. He and Jo headed back to the lab. "You think she is trying to keep him from being convicted?" Jo asked.

"It's possible," Mac replied. "She would know the procedures of a lab. If something doesn't go right, it can throw a case out the window."

Jo sighed and shook her head. "Maybe he's her lover or something."

"He's a drug dealer. Maybe she was one of his women or one of his distributors."

"You never know what people are doing after hours."

"That's true."

Jo thought a moment. "All I can think is that she is tied to him somehow but I don't think it's a lover," she said.

"Why?"

"Cause he's a drug dealer."

"Maybe she's a relative or something."

"That's possible."

They arrived at the precinct and went inside. Don Flack was at his desk. "Hey, Mac, I found out something about Patricia Stanford," he said.

Mac looked at the printout Don gave him. "His sister," he said. "I knew it had to be some sort of relation."

Jo looked at the paper. "So, she's trying to help her brother out by throwing away her career and everything?" she asked. "That doesn't make sense."

"It has to be the explanation."

"But why would she do it? What would make her do something like this?"

Mac looked at Jo. "You think she was threatened or something?"

Jo considered that. "There must be a lot of money involved in this," she said. "There is something that we're missing."

"And he'll have that lawyer saying that we can't go on with his trial because we've lost the file."

"What about her child?"

"You think they are threatening her with her child?" Mac asked.

"It's possible, Mac," Jo replied. "A mother will do anything for her child."

"Yeah, but would her own brother do something like that?"

"Maybe not her brother, but maybe some of the others who work for him."

Mac considered that. "They would do anything to get him off to keep their drug business going."

"Why don't we go and visit him and see if he knows what's going on with his sister?"

"That might be useful." Mac looked at Don Flack. "Bring Patrick King back here to interrogation. Let me know when he's here."

"Will do," Don said.

Mac and Jo went back up to the lab. "You find out anything?" Danny asked when Mac and Jo came out of the elevator.

"We found out that Patricia Stanford is Patrick King's sister. We think they may have been threatening her about her child," Jo said.

"She has a kid?"

"Yes. We found that out at her apartment."

"You think they may have kidnapped her child?" Lindsey asked.

"We don't know yet, but Patricia Stanford has disappeared."

"I'm going to get Flack to get in touch with someone about her child," Mac said. "She must have had a babysitter." He looked at the others. "Let's get busy and see what we can figure out. Someone's time is running out." Mac turned to go to his office. "I'll get the chief in on this."


	12. Chapter 12

Mac walked into the interrogation room where Patrick King was waiting. He glared at Mac. "What am I doing here again?" King asked.

"Your sister," Mac replied.

King frowned. "My sister? What about her? She doesn't have anything to do with this. As a matter of fact, she works for you."

"Yes, I realize that, but she is missing."

King stared at Mac. "Are you trying to threaten me, Detective?" he asked.

Mac leaned on the table. "Not at all. The file about your case mysteriously disappeared from this lab along with several other documents about that case, and your sister has disappeared too."

King was silent for a moment. "You're lying. Patricia would never do that." He pointed his finger at Mac. "Don't you even try to accuse me of hurting my sister! We are on opposite sides of the law, but she's still my sister."

Mac stared at King a moment. "I think someone has forced your sister to do their bidding," Mac said. "Her child was gone too. We're checking with her friends and family now."

Mac thought King's face went two shades whiter and then redder. "Are you telling me that somebody has kidnapped my sister?" he asked.

"I'm not sure of anything right now," Mac said. "But you need to tell me who has something against you enough to kidnap her and force her to misplace files in this lab."

King stood up. "You have to let me out of here!" he said. "They'll kill her!"

"Tell me who 'they' are," Mac demanded. "Sit down! We'll do everything we can to find her if you will help us!"

King stared at Mac a moment but then he sat down. "I owed some guys," he said. "They were my suppliers. They probably did this to get my case thrown out so I can repay them."

"Who are they?" Mac asked.

King looked at Mac. "They're the kind of people you don't mess with," he said.

"I've dealt with all kinds," Mac said. "Now tell me who they are."

"They'll kill her if they think you're on to them. They may have already killed her anyway."

Mac stared at King. He supposed no matter how bad a person was, they could care about their family. "Look, we will help her out of this if you will help us," he said. "I mean that."

King considered that. He knew Mac meant what he said. "Okay, I'll help you but you better help my sister and her baby. That baby is only four months old."

"Who is the baby's father?" Mac asked.

"Her husband is in Afghanistan."

"So I guess he knows nothing about this." Mac rubbed his face. He wondered if this could get any more difficult. He looked at King. "Tell me who is involved in this."

"You are not going to believe me when I tell you. You think you know everybody in this city but you don't know anything. You would be shocked to know who all comes into my club."

Mac stared at him. "I don't care who they are," he said. "If they are doing something illegal, they will pay the price when I catch up with them."

"You can't always win, Detective Taylor. They know you and they have your number. It's just a matter of time before they get you out of their way."

"Just tell me who is involved in this."

"Who all is listening on the other side of that glass?" King asked. "You know even if I am in jail, they can get to me."

Mac frowned. "Are you suggesting that someone in the police department is involved in this?"

"Hey, you don't have any idea what I know."

"So, why don't you tell me?"

King leaned on the table. "I figure I'm a dead man anyway, so I might as well tell you," he said. "You know when you send those drugs from drug busts to be destroyed? Well, they don't always get destroyed."

Mac frowned. "What are you saying?"

"Man, I see it all."

"They come to me to sell them. They don't incinerate them like they're supposed to every time."

"And just who are 'they'?"

King leaned back and folded his arms. "Hey, what do I get out of this deal?" he asked.

"Maybe you won't get the death penalty and maybe your sister won't die."

King frowned. "I can give you some names," he said.

Mac pushed a notepad toward him and an ink pen. "Start writing," he said.

King picked up the pen. "This is for Patricia."

Mac looked toward the two-sided mirror where Flack and Jo were watching. "This is hard to believe," Jo said.

Don frowned. "Just because he says something doesn't mean it's true," he replied.

Jo looked at Don. "Why would he lie about something like that? He would know we would find out it was a lie eventually."

Don had to admit that was true. He did not think Patrick King was that stupid. He hated the thought of having to take down some of his own. He knew plenty of cops who had taken drugs to be incinerated. He had even done it himself. He could not believe anyone he knew would take drugs and sell them like that. He had been shocked before though. He supposed he would have to get over the shock and do what he had to do. He just hoped it did not turn out like last time and cause some maniac to get out of prison.

When Mac had his list, he left the interrogation room. "You save my sister, Detective!" King yelled as Mac went out the door.

Mac went out where Don and Jo were. "We've got big trouble," Mac said.

"You really believe this guy?" Don asked.

Mac looked at him. "Why would he lie? What benefit would he have for lying?"

"I don't know, Mac." Don looked at the notepad Mac had in his hand. "Just how many names are on that list?"

"Five," Mac replied. "If they're stealing drugs and selling them, they don't need to be cops."

"I agree. But are we going to take the word of some womanizing drug dealer?"

Mac sighed. "Don, let's not argue about this. Let's just get to the bottom of it and find out what happened to this woman and her child."

"That's the important thing," Jo declared.

Mac looked at the list. "Let's go up to the lab to talk about this," he suggested. "I don't want this to get out before we want it to."

Don and Jo followed Mac to the elevator. They were all quiet on the way up to the lab. Mac knew what was going through Don's mind. He hated the thought of taking down cops but he would not think twice about it if they were dirty and he would not lose a wink of sleep over it. He had even found that his old partner had committed murder and would have arrested him but Raymond Price had killed him first. That had been a hard situation to get through.

They came out of the elevator at the lab. Danny and Lindsey were in the lab along with Sheldon. "I want everyone in the conference room," Mac said.

Soon, everyone was there, including Adam. Mac sat down in his usual place at the table and laid the notepad down. "We have a serious situation here," Mac began. "We believe that Patricia Stanford and her child have been kidnapped because of drugs and money that her brother owes to others. I have also found out that certain police officers have allegedly been taking drugs that were supposed to be incinerated and selling them to Patrick King."

Everyone was silent for a moment. "That's not a definite thing though," Don declared to break the silence. "Patrick King is saying all this and claiming that he is helping us so that we will help his sister."

"But he has no reason to lie about something like this," Jo pointed out. "He would not get any benefit from lying about it. And if Patricia and her child have been kidnapped, we need to find them before something happens to them…if it hasn't already."

Don folded his arms. "So, what do we do?" Lindsey asked. "How do we find them?"

"We start with this list," Mac said giving Don a stern look. "We have to investigate this to the fullest because if it's true, there's no excuse for it and we need to get this under control now."

"So, who all is on the list?" Danny asked.

"There are five names on this list," Mac said. "I'm going to make a copy of it and Danny, I want you to find out what dates these officers took drugs to the incinerator and how big the quantity was. I also want to know if any drug money has gone missing. We're going to do a thorough investigation into this. I want no stone left unturned and I want everything documented to the fullest on paper. Let's try to keep this out of this system for the time being. Save everything to a flash drive and print it out. Don't save it to the system until we figure this out. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded. Mac sighed. "I know this is not going to be a pleasant operation but it has to be done," he said.

They all left the conference room, each one with their own thoughts about the situation. Mac went to his office and made another copy of the list of names. He went into the lab where Danny and Lindsey were along with Don and Sheldon. Don folded his arms but Mac just ignored that gesture as he gave a copy of the list to Danny. "You, Lindsey and Sheldon get to work on this and find out everything you can about these officers," Mac said.

Jo came into the lab just then. "Jo, you and I will start our investigation at the incinerator," Mac said. "Someone has to know whether those drugs were actually put in there or not."

"What about me?" Don asked.

Mac looked at him. "You keep your eyes and ears open," he said. "And don't let your heart get in the way."

Don frowned. "I don't like dirty cops any more than you do, Mac," he said. "But it doesn't make it any easier."

"I understand that. You're coming with us for now."

Mac looked at the others. "Everyone get busy," he said. He, Jo and Don headed for the elevator.

"I've never been to the incinerator," Jo said as they were going into the elevator.

"Well, you're about to," Mac replied.

"It's a hot place," Don remarked. "Doesn't smell too good either."

They went out to the Avalanche and headed over to the incinerator. "I just hope we don't find anything going on over there," Don said. "I would imagine that someone could drop you in that thing and no one would ever know it."

Mac frowned. "Well, let's try not to prove that fact," he said. "We're going to be careful."

"How are we going to go about this?" Jo asked. "Are we just going to walk right in and ask them if someone took drugs out of there and didn't actually incinerate them?"

"They have a record of who brought what over there and who was supposed to put it into the incinerator," Mac said.

"Oh, this is just terrible," Jo said. "How could anyone do something like this?"

"Money," Don replied. "It's all about money."

"That's why we're going to see if any money has gone missing from the evidence warehouse," Mac said.

When they arrived at the incinerator, there was plenty of smoke rising from the smoke stack. Don got out of the Avalanche and stared at it a moment. "This is where old evidence goes to die," he remarked.

"Well, everything has to die sometime," Jo replied.

They went inside and it was very noisy. Mac wondered how much stuff usually went through here every day. It was not only for police use of course, it was just where they took stuff when it needed to be disposed of. "Can I help you?" someone asked trying to talk over the noise.

Mac looked at the man, who was dressed in white coveralls that looked like they had seen their share of soot and ash clouds. The man looked like he had seen his share too. His black hair had a slight gray sheen to it that Mac did not think was caused from aging and he had a big thick mustache and there was a nametag on his coveralls that said "Bret".

Mac showed the man his badge. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor," he said. "We need to see your records about drugs that have been incinerated here."

The man stared at Mac a moment. "Come with me," he said.

Mac, Jo and Don followed the man to an office that was cluttered with files and papers and there were several filing cabinets that looked surprisingly neat. "How long will it take you to find the files?" Mac asked.

"Not long," Bret replied. "I have them documented." He typed in the computer and went to one of the filing cabinets.

Mac was surprised that it was not going to take long, but Bret soon came out with a thick file that looked like it was well kept. "This is all that have been done in the last year," he said.

Mac stared at it and then looked at Bret. "Does this have the names of the officers who brought them and the one who incinerated them?" he asked.

"Sure," Bret replied. "I keep very good records."

"Are you always here?"

"Well, I have days off like anyone else and I am not here at night but there's not much going on at night."

"Who is here at night?"

"Ronald is here. Why? Is there some sort of problem?"

"We need to see his records too," Mac said.

"If you would tell me what the problem is, maybe I can help."

"We have a report that all the drugs that were brought here to be incinerated weren't."

Bret stared at Mac a moment. "Not on my watch," he said. "No one gets away with that while I'm here."

"What is Ronald's last name?" Don asked.

"Walters."

Don wrote that down. He turned and got his phone to call that name in to see if he could find anything about the guy. "How well do you know Ronald?" Mac asked.

"Not very well," Bret replied. "Like I said, I work days and he works nights."

Mac showed Bret the list he had. "You ever seen any of those officers here when you were here?" he asked.

Bret looked at the names. "There are so many people who come through here," he said. "I do recall this one though." He pointed to the name George Grimes. "That guy asked a lot of questions when he was here."

"What kind of questions?"

"Like, how long it took to incinerate the drugs and who all worked around here and was it busy all the time. Hey, he was a cop. I didn't know he was wanting to do anything illegal."

Mac stared at Bret a moment. He was beginning to think he was a little too cooperative. Bret seemed to get a little nervous under Mac's intense stare. "We'll be talking again," Mac said and took the file that Bret had given him. "Don't get hard to find."

Bret watched as Mac and the other two detectives turned to go back to the Avalanche. He thought someone was going to be in trouble but it was not going to be him…


	13. Chapter 13

When Mac got back to his office, he found a letter on his desk. He hoped it was not more bad news. He would have to look at it later. Right now, he had a big problem. Don Flack was looking for Ronald Walters and also George Grimes. Mac would be doing that interrogation. Jo came into the office. "What is our next move?" she asked.

"I hope George Grimes will tell us where that woman is if he knows," Mac replied.

"You really think he would kidnap her?"

"He probably knew her because she worked here."

Just then, Danny and Lindsey came to the office. "Mac, we found a record of which of these officers took drugs to be incinerated," Lindsey said and gave Mac a printout. "They have to sign out what they are taking."

Mac looked at the printout. "George Grimes has been several times," he said. "More times than these others. We'll see if our records are the same as the records of Bret down at the incinerator."

They all went to the conference room and began looking through the files. Soon, Don Flack came in. "Mac, I found out that George Grimes and Patricia Stanford's husband, Thomas, were partners before he went to the war," Don said.

"So, her husband was an officer here," Mac said.

"That must be how they knew her," Jo declared.

"She may not have much time. We have to hurry and find these people."

"George Grimes is not in today," Don said. "He's on schedule though."

Mac scowled. "Is he really so desperate that he would think he can get away with something like this?" he asked.

Jo shook her head. "This sounds crazy even for someone who has stolen drugs," she said.

"I couldn't find Ronald Walters yet either," Don put in. "He seems to have disappeared."

"Check the airlines," Mac said. "They could be trying to escape with money. Check bus lines and everything. I don't want them to get out of this city with that money…or with that woman and her child."

"I'm on it." Don left the conference room.

Mac and the others continued to compare the records of the amount of drugs that were taken to the incinerator and the amount that was supposedly destroyed. "The only time this guy Grimes went down there was when Ronald Walters was there," Danny pointed out. "Walters' signature is on all of these."

"The others went at other times as well," Jo said. "They must not have been in this as deeply as Grimes was."

"They may not have anything to do with the situation we're looking into now," Mac said. "But we're going to find out."

Mac left the conference room and went to his office. He called Don and told him to see if the other officers were on duty and locate them all. "We need to question all these officers," Mac said.

"I will get them," Don replied.

Mac looked at the envelope that was still lying on his desk. It had no name on it except "Mac Taylor". He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. As he unfolded it, his frown deepened. The letter was a plain white paper that only had a lion at the top and a message that said "Watch your back, Taylor". Mac stared at it a moment and then started to wad it up but then he laid it on the desk. He saw Jo coming to his office. He motioned her in.

"Something wrong?" Jo asked noticing the look on Mac's face.

"Yes," Mac said. He showed her the letter.

Jo stared at it a moment and then looked at Mac. "You think this has something to do with what that psychic told you this morning?" she asked.

Mac gave her one of his skeptical looks. "I think she may be trying to get some credibility," he said. "Maybe we should bring her in too."

"You really think this is a hoax?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you should take this seriously. It does have a lion on it."

Mac took the letter and the envelope. "We'll see who all has a hand in this," he said.

Jo followed Mac to the lab where they dusted the letter and the envelope for prints. Mac found his own prints but no others. He leaned on the lab table and looked at Jo. "They're clever enough to keep their fingerprints off and the envelope is not sealed so there's no DNA there either."

"You think it's connected to this case we are dealing with?" Jo asked.

"I don't know. There are just too many weird things going on around here."

"I'll be glad when we get to the bottom of this."

By that afternoon, Don had located the other four officers but he had not found George Grimes or Robert Walters. Mac interrogated the officers but none of them knew anything about what George Grimes was doing. They knew him but they did not usually work with him. Christopher Wise was the last officer that Mac interrogated. He was incredibly upset about being found out.

"I only did it once," Wise said. "I just needed some money to pay off some debts." He looked at Mac. "Don't fire me. I won't ever do anything like that again."

Mac stared at him a moment. "Do you know the seriousness of what you did?" he asked. "Not only did you betray the badge and your honor, but you sold drugs out there to be sold to kids on the streets."

Wise rubbed his face. "I know, but I didn't see any other way," he said. "But yes I see the seriousness of it. I just don't need to lose my job. I have a wife and three kids."

"And what would they think if they found out that you sold drugs? What are you going to do if your kids grow up and decide they want to try drugs?"

"They don't have to know about this."

Mac frowned. "But you know about it," he said. He shook his head. "Something like this can't just be overlooked but your superiors will decide on this as well as the DA." Mac stood up and looked at Wise. "Personally, I would fire you right here and you would not walk out of this room with that badge. The only reason that I'm not doing it myself is because I don't have any evidence linking you to this except your confession."

Mac went to the door of the interrogation room. "It certainly is something for you to think about," he said and went out the door.

Don was standing outside. "I don't think he was involved in this," Mac said. "I think it was just a one-time thing."

"I think it was all this George Grimes and Robert Walters," Don replied. "I still have not located either of them."

"Time is running out for Patricia Stanford and her child I am afraid."

"I hear you got a strange letter at your office."

"I did. There were no prints on it."

"Who's out to get you? You think it has anything to do with this case?"

Mac shook his head. "I'm not sure, but it had a lion on it."

Don scowled. "Coincidence?"

"I don't know but this case is more important right now."

"I've got an APB out and all the airlines and bus lines are tagged. We can't really do anything but wait now."

Mac nodded. He looked in the window of the interrogation room. "I'm going to let the chief handle this," he said and headed for the elevator.

Mac walked out of the elevator at the chief's office. Chief Sinclair was coming toward the elevator. "Mac, I was just on my way to see you," he said.

"I brought you some information, Chief," Mac said. He gave him the folder with the information about the four officers they had found to be crooked. "I'll let you handle this while we handle that kidnapping situation."

"How is that going?"

"We have nothing yet. All we know is that George Grimes has disappeared as well as Robert Walters. Patricia Stanford and her child are also missing."

"Quite a plot, Taylor. I hope you get it solved soon."

"We're doing our best."

"Keep me informed."

Mac turned back to the elevator. He was getting more worried about this case all the time. He was afraid they were going to find that woman and her child dead. He hoped that would not happen. He would not rest until he found them.

Mac arrived back at the lab. Everyone could see the worry on his face as he went to his office. Jo went in to talk to him. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"No," Mac said. "There's a woman and her child out there and we can't find them. They may be in the hands of drug dealers and her husband is somewhere in Afghanistan and doesn't even know about it."

Jo sighed. "Maybe something will turn up," she said. "Let's go have lunch."

"I don't think I could eat right now."

"You need to eat. You can't operate at your best if you don't eat."

Mac leaned on his hand. "I hope Don can find out where these two were living soon," he said. "If we can find that out, we might be able to find out where they went."

"It looks like it wouldn't be that hard to find where an officer was living."

Mac stood up. "I guess we can go to lunch while we wait," he said. He got his coat and sighed.

"We're going to do our best," Jo said. "That's all we can do. No one expects anymore."

"Yeah, but it might not be good enough."

"Let's go."

They went to the elevator. Mac frowned while he was waiting for the elevator to come up. His phone rang. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac, I found the last address for George Grimes," Don said. "He didn't even have it changed in his record."

"What about Ronald Walters?"

"Still looking for that guy. He didn't have his changed in his file either. The address we went to was occupied by an elderly couple. They don't even know Ronald Walters. The landlord said he moved out over a year ago and left no forwarding address."

Mac and Jo walked into the elevator. "I'm on my way down now," Mac said. "Let's get over to George Grimes' address to see if we can find him or get some idea of where he might be now."

When Mac and Jo got downstairs, Don was getting a team together. "He's probably already pulled out," Don said.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Mac replied as he was putting on his bulletproof vest. "Maybe we can get something from there to prove he's in on this though."

Just then, Danny came out of the elevator. "I'm going too," he announced. "I want to get this guy."

Soon, they were on their way. Jo could feel Mac's tension. She knew he wanted to get this guy and she wondered what he would do if they did not find anything here that would lead to him. They soon arrived at the apartment building. Mac, Don, Danny and Jo went inside to find the landlord and then went on down to the apartment.

Don knocked on the door. "N.Y.P.D.!" he said. "Open up!"

They all listened but did not hear anything. "Open it," Mac said to the landlord.

The landlord unlocked the door. Jo took the landlord around the corner and then Mac pushed the apartment door open. He heard a click as he shoved the door open. He was shocked to see a bomb sitting in the apartment. "Run!" Mac yelled. He turned and shoved Danny and Don toward the other corridor.

They barely made it around the corner before the bomb exploded taking out half the wall in the narrow hallway they were in. Mac landed on top of Don and Danny as debris and dust flew down the hall they were now in. Everything settled down and they got up. Their ears were ringing from the concussion of the blast. "Hey, who's bleeding?" Danny asked in alarm as he saw some blood on the floor.

Mac realized his leg was bleeding where a big splinter had gone into his shin. He pulled his pants leg up to look. "Ouch," Danny said as he looked at it.

Jo came over there to see. "You'll have to get that seen about," she said.

Mac looked at her with an 'I know that' look. He wondered how stubborn she thought he was. He certainly did not want to get a big infection. "I want you and Danny to go over that place thoroughly," he said. "Don't miss anything."

Don came around the corner where he had been looking into the destroyed apartment. "There's not much left to go over," he said. "Looks like that bomb took out most of the apartment."

"There may be some fingerprints at least." Mac grimaced at the pain in his leg. "I'll be back to the office as soon as I get this out of my leg."

The paramedics soon came and took Mac to the emergency room. He hated lying in the emergency room waiting for the doctor. He was there an hour before he got the splinter out, which had gone in quite deep. However it did not puncture any major arteries or veins. Mac took his prescription for antibiotics and left the hospital. Just as he was going out the door, Jo was coming in. "You're already getting out?" she asked.

"Yes," Mac replied. "It was only a splinter."

"One that was about three inches long!"

Mac looked at her. "Don't worry about me. We have more important things to worry about. What did you find at the apartment?"

"Nothing but a few fingerprints." Jo looked at Mac. "There were fingerprints there from Patricia Stanford and there were also small prints here and there where the baby had touched something. We also found George Grimes' prints. Most of the papers in the apartment were torn or burned up."

Mac blew out a breath and climbed into the Avalanche. Jo got in the driver's seat. Mac was trying to think of what their next course of action should be. "Any signs of someone being held captive?" he asked.

"There was a melted roll of duct tape there but no signs that anyone was tied up with it," Jo said.

Mac considered that. "He would probably keep her bound with cuffs since he was a cop," he pointed out. "He might have taped her mouth with the tape."

"What about the baby?"

Mac shook his head. "I don't know, Jo."

Jo heard the sadness in Mac's voice. "I feel so sorry for this woman. I wish there was some way we could find her."

"Me too," Mac said. "But it looks like she is lost for the time being."

"Why don't we get some lunch on the way back to the lab?"

"Fine. We can get my prescription filled too."

They dropped the prescription off at the pharmacy and then went on to lunch. Mac got himself a hamburger and sat down at a table. Jo was soon there. Mac was just staring at the table. He yawned. "Eat," Jo said.

Mac looked at her. "I'm sleepy," he said.

"Is it because you slept on the couch?"

"I don't know. Maybe because of the nightmares. I am usually tired after having those."

Jo smiled. "Just eat and maybe it will make you feel better."

Mac took a bite of his burger. He felt like he could just lie over on the table and sleep. "It's hard not to drink coffee," he remarked as he sipped his tea.

"Probably better not to drink it though," Jo asked.

"I was drinking too much of it and getting headaches when I didn't drink any. I was drinking it instead of eating."

"Not a good thing to do."

"I guess I decided to get more sleep instead of drinking coffee to stay awake."

Just then, Mac's phone rang. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac, I analyzed the paper and the emblem from the letter you got this morning," Lindsey said. "There is no company in New York who uses that symbol…but, there is a newspaper reporter who uses it in their headlines."

Mac stopped chewing. "What?"

"She uses it as an emblem beside her name at the top of her newspaper articles in The Journal."

Mac scowled. "And just who is that?"

"Someone you've met before…Jennifer Walsh."

Mac frowned. "You're kidding," he said.

"Not at all."

Mac took his notepad out and wrote that down. "Why would she be involved in something like this?" he wondered out loud.

"No clue," Lindsey replied.

"Thanks."

Mac put his phone away and stared out the window. He would not have thought Jennifer Walsh would be involved in something like this. "Well?" Jo said, breaking into his thoughts. "Are you going to let me in on this information?"

Mac looked at her. "That lion emblem on the letter I got this morning is a symbol that Jennifer Walsh uses on her articles in the Journal," he said.

Jo thought about that a moment. "You don't think she is involved in this, do you?"

"I don't really think that letter has anything to do with this case."

"So, what does Jennifer Walsh have to do with that psychic?"

"That's something we're going to find out. Go by there."

"That reporter may be just looking for a story. You better not let her know that you're coming there because of something a psychic told your or she'll make you the laughing stock of this city."

"I know that, Jo. I just want to know why she would be involved in something like this. And besides, that letter had a warning on it, remember?"

"Yes, I remember." Jo looked at Mac. "You think there's anything to it or is she just trying to get back at you for not giving in to her charms?"

Mac sighed. "I hope not."

"Maybe she's just trying to lure you to her office."

"Won't she be surprised when I bring you with me?"

Jo laughed. "If that was her intention, she's too late. I've already dragged you into my chamber and you're not getting out."

Mac looked at her with an amused look. "I'm trapped, huh?"

"Absolutely. I wouldn't let you get away if I have to hog-tie you."

"I'll try not to disappoint you."


	14. Chapter 14

Mac and Jo arrived at the newspaper office and went inside. Mac walked up to the front desk and showed them his badge. "I need to see Jennifer Walsh," he said a little sternly.

The receptionist looked at Mac. "Well, she's at her desk," she said.

Mac and Jo followed the receptionist into the newsroom and to Jennifer's desk. Jennifer was there. She stood up and smiled at Mac. "Well, I didn't expect to see you here," she said. Her smile faded slightly when she noticed Jo with Mac. "I thought you weren't going to take my offer."

"I'm not," Mac replied. He noticed stationary on the desk. He picked up a sheet of it which had the same emblem at the top as the one he had gotten that morning. He looked at Jennifer. "Was this some kind of ploy for you to get back at me because I wouldn't go along with your interview?"

Jennifer folded her arms. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"I got a note in my office this morning that was written on a sheet of this stationary," Mac said. "And it was in line with something else that happened this morning."

"And you think I am so desperate that I would do that?"

"I don't know, but this better stop now."

"Now look here, Detective. I have not sent any notes to your office. Just what did this note say?"

Mac frowned. "Don't play dumb with me," he said. "If I get anymore notes like that, you'll be going downtown for questioning."

"Don't threaten me!"

Mac glared at her. "Don't threaten me either. I don't make threats. I make promises." Mac put the sheet of stationary in his pocket and turned to leave.

"I think you would make an interesting story, Detective Taylor!" Jennifer said.

Mac looked back at her. "Don't push me," he warned.

"I'm known for being pushy."

"You better push somewhere else."

Jo did not really know what to say in this situation but she just grabbed Mac's arm and they went on out. Mac got into the Avalanche but he was still angry. "She must know something about that note," he declared. "Might have even sent it herself."

Jo looked at Mac. "Just how far did your relationship go with her?" she asked.

Mac folded his arms and looked at Jo. "Nowhere," he replied. "She was just a reporter trying to get a story."

"She sent you flowers."

"Those flowers weren't from her."

"Then who were they from?"

"I don't know. There was no name on the card."

"Sorry if that is too nosey. I just want to know what's going on."

Mac looked out the window. "I don't know who sent those flowers. I haven't received any more so I guess it was just a one-time thing."

"Mystery flowers? One-time thing? Maybe it's connected to this mess you're in now."

"Oh yeah, that's all I need," Mac said sarcastically. "Someone sending me flowers and notes and some psychic trying to predict my future."

"Maybe you should ask that psychic if the lion on the paper is the one she's talking about."

Mac looked at the stationary he had gotten from Jennifer Walsh. "It's definitely the same design," he said.

"Someone could have stolen a piece of her stationary. You never know."

"I'm not sure, but I know this is the same design and it has to be the same paper."

"Well, let's don't false accuse someone before we know. Just because a woman had the hots for you doesn't mean she wants to kill you. I mean, look at me."

Mac shook his head. "Yes, you have me trapped," he said.

"Trapped? I suppose I would let you leave if you wanted to."

"Who said I want to?"

"Well, you said you were trapped."

"Maybe I like being trapped."

"So, are we gonna have time for our date tonight?" Jo asked.

Mac looked at her. "Aren't you afraid I will fall asleep again?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter to me. I might just sleep there with you."

Mac shook his head. "Are we that old?"

"I'm not old. I just work hard."

"Oh. Okay."

"Well, maybe we'll have to just postpone it and get some sleep tonight. How about that?"

Mac pretended to consider that. "Well, I suppose we could and have a date this weekend."

"Tyler is coming home this weekend so I will be spending time with him," Jo informed him.

"We'll figure it out."

"We will."

Jo pulled into the parking garage and they got out of the Avalanche. Mac was looking at the stationary as they walked to the elevator. "It's odd that she would send you a message on her own stationary if she didn't want you to know it was her," Jo remarked.

"That's what I was thinking," Mac said. "I guess someone could have picked up a piece of it and used it."

They went into the elevator. Jo turned Mac's face toward her and kissed him. "Mmm, I love to kiss your lips," she said and kissed him again.

They shared a long kiss until the elevator beeped. Mac wiped his mouth with his handkerchief as the doors opened and someone else walked in. Jo smiled as she saw her red lipstick on Mac's handkerchief. He gave her a sideways look that was amused.

They soon reached their floor and walked out of the elevator. "See you in a few minutes," Jo said and slapped Mac on the behind.

Mac looked around at her and kept walking. Jo could not help but smile at his shyness. Mac was trying to hide his own smile as he walked into the lab. He cleared his throat. "Lindsey, I want you to compare this stationary to the one that note was written on," Mac said.

Lindsey looked at the paper Mac gave her. "It definitely looks the same," she said.

"It could have been duplicated. I want to know if it's the same paper and the same ink."

"Okay."

Lindsey watched Mac walk to his office. She smiled. She had seen that little exchange between him and Jo. She and Danny had seen them in the deli together too. She thought they looked happy together and she thought Jo was good for him too.

Mac went to his office and hung his coat back up. He would be glad when spring came again so he could stop wearing a coat. He felt like he wore a coat most of the year and he supposed he did. He thought of down South where Jo was from. They did not wear a coat even half the year.

Jo was in her office. She thought of Mac. She hated that he might not get to come over for a while. She found herself thinking about him during the day and wanting to be with him all the time. If Mac did not get to come over, she would definitely miss him and might go looking for him. She shook her head at her thoughts. She felt like a young girl again going crazy over a boy. She was definitely infatuated with him and it was more than that. She thought she was in love with him.

Mac yawned as he was sitting at his desk. He did not think he had slept much last night but he remembered waking up this morning so he must have slept some. He did not remember waking up during the night but he was sleepy anyway. He had more pressing matters to think about…several matters. He wanted to know why he had gotten a note written on stationary from Jennifer Walsh's desk and why a psychic came telling him that someone was going to kill him saying beware of lions and that stationary happens to have a lion on it. And besides that, they had a missing woman and her baby who may have been kidnapped by drug dealers. He was also curious as to who sent him those flowers. Jo had asked about them and had gotten him to thinking again. He had not thought much about them since then but now he was thinking about it. It was too many mysteries for his detective mind to handle without trying to figure them out.

While Mac was writing his report, Lindsey came from the lab with the results of her test. Mac looked at it and then looked at Lindsey. "So they match," he said.

"Yes," Lindsey replied. "Definitely the same paper and printed with the same ink. I also found out that Jennifer Walsh has her stationary specially made. She has it printed at the Journal where she works, so unless there's someone in the newsroom who has it in for her, no one could have gotten anymore of this printed."

Mac frowned. "Well, that means that they got this piece of stationary from her," he said. "They either stole it from her desk or…" Mac looked at Lindsey. "Or she is less than honest."

"How well do you know her?" Lindsey asked folding her arms. She knew she was getting too personal.

"I don't know her. All I know is that she was trying to get a story."

"She was trying to get more than that."

Mac sighed. "Well she didn't."

"I'm sorry. I'm just saying."

"Well, now you can spread the rumor around that she didn't get anything that she was after."

"I'm sorry." Lindsey turned to leave with a smile. She knew Mac knew that he was the topic of gossip in this lab.

Mac shook his head as he went on writing some more on his report. He could not believe that Jennifer Walsh was mixed up in this. He got his phone and called Don Flack.

"Flack," Don answered.

"Don, have you found out anything yet?"

"Only that a stewardess saw someone fitting George Grimes' description in the airport and there was a woman and a baby with him."

"And?"

"We haven't been able to find them. Mac, chances are, if she was in this airport with him, she's in on this with him."

Mac frowned. "Then we're looking for three fugitives instead of two fugitives and two hostages."

"Right. We still have no trace of Ronald Walters. He's dropped off the map."

"Yeah, well, I want that George Grimes for attempted murder as well as selling illegal drugs."

"We're looking for him."

"Don, I want you to bring Jennifer Walsh in for questioning," Mac said.

"You think she had something to do with this?"

"No, this is another matter."

"That letter you got?"

"Yes. Just bring her in."

"Will do."


	15. Chapter 15

Mac walked into the interrogation room where an angry Jennifer Walsh was pacing around with her arms folded. She glared at Mac. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked. "Are you trying to embarrass me at my office? Do you know what it's like to be taken out by the police?"

Mac dropped his folder on the table. "Sit down," he said. "We're going to talk about this."

"And just what if I don't want to sit down?"

Mac's stare became just a little irritated. "Okay, okay," Jennifer said and sat down. "You don't have to get hostile about it. You want to be in charge."

Mac glared at her. "This has nothing to do with being in charge," he said. He opened the folder and took out the two pieces of stationary. "You see that? This is your stationary that you have specially made at your newspaper office. You can't claim that someone copied it because it is printed with the same ink on the same paper." Mac looked at her a moment. "You want to tell me anything about this?"

Jennifer stared at him a moment. "Do you really think I would send you messages like this?" she asked. She leaned on the table. "You're not that desirable." She leaned back again. "Maybe somebody picked up a sheet of the stationary. Anybody could do it who is walking by."

"But why would they?"

"Maybe they knew I was trying to get a story and trying to interview you and they knew it would look bad."

Mac sighed and leaned back in his chair. "It's hard to believe that someone would go to all that trouble," he said.

"So, you think I sent you this message. What purpose do I have for doing that? Is there something else to this?"

Mac stared at her. He knew she was getting curious and she would just love for him to tell her that a psychic told him that someone was going to try to kill him so that she could smear him in the paper. "If you're involved in this somehow, I'm going to find it out."

"So, what's going on? Maybe I can help you."

"I don't think you can and I don't want this in the paper. Has anyone come to see you who was at your desk while you were not there?"

Jennifer thought a moment. "A lot of people have come to see me," she said. "Is there any person in particular that you're talking about?"

Mac thought there was probably no harm in giving her a description. After all, this was a personal case. "The woman is probably in her fifties. She has graying brown hair, light blue eyes."

Jennifer thought. "No, I haven't seen anyone like that," she said. "Who are you talking about?"  
"I don't know her name, and that's not important. The important thing is that someone is sending me threatening letters and using your stationary. There's obviously a connection here somewhere."

"If I think of anything, I'll let you know."

"You do that."

Mac got up and left the interrogation room. "You think she's telling the truth?" Jo asked.

"I guess it's impossible to be totally sure," Mac replied. "There has to be some reason why her stationary was used."

"Right. And why that psychic told you to beware of lions. I think someone is playing a game with you, Mac."

"I'm not sure it's just a game."

Jo followed Mac to the elevator. "You think someone is really going to try to kill you?" Jo asked.

Mac considered that as they walked into the elevator. "The woman who told me that could have stolen the stationary to make it look like this is legitimate," he said. "Maybe she's wanting to get attention or something."

"Well, she's certainly got yours."

"It's just strange. There has to be some connection but I don't know what it is and I don't know who would be wanting to kill me."

"Oh, Mac, you could probably pick a number."

Mac looked at her. "Thanks a lot. That makes me feel better."

"Well, I'm sure there are people out there who would like to kill me too."

"I guess it goes with the job."

"Have you seen anyone lately that you put in jail before?"

"Not that I recall."

"What about any phone calls? Have you had any strange phone calls?"

"Only the one from the psychic this morning."

Mac and Jo walked out of the elevator at the lab. As Mac neared his office, he could see another bouquet of flowers sitting on his desk. He and Jo stopped as they both saw it. "This is getting serious, Mac," Jo said.

"Yes, I'm thinking that whatever is going on is going to be revealed soon," Mac replied.

They went on to Mac's office and looked at the bouquet of orange and yellow lilies. Mac took the card off and looked at it: _Forgotten Love. _

"What on earth is that supposed to mean?" Jo asked.

"I don't know," Mac said. He could smell the odor of the flowers just standing where he was. "They certainly have a strong fragrance."

"Lilies usually do," Jo replied.

"I guess whoever it is has good taste in flowers."

"I have some more paperwork to do," Jo said. "I have to get busy and get some of it done before the day is over." She touched Mac's face. "I love you," she said before she thought.

Mac looked into her eyes. "I love you too," he said.

Jo turned and went to her office. She had told him that she loved him and he replied the same. She was glad she had said it because she was sure Mac did not say that unless he meant it. She had to get this paperwork done because she wanted to get home early tonight. She could not help but wonder what the situation was that Mac was in. "Forgotten Love". She wondered what that meant. She thought maybe it was someone from Mac's past. From what she knew, he had not had many women. He had been married to Claire all those years and then he had gone through a long grieving period. She did not know much about Mac's personal life. She knew he had a serious relationship with that Peyton woman. Jo frowned. She could not be jealous of that. He had not even known her then and she was still married to Russ.

Mac smelled of the lilies. They smelled so good but he still had no idea who would send him something like that. He looked at the card again. "Forgotten Love". He sat down and thought about that. He had had some run-ins with some women who wanted more from him than he wanted to give but he did not think they would resort to threats or trying to hurt him. However, it said "forgotten" love. Mac thought about that. He could not recall any forgotten loves he had. He usually did not forget anything like that.

Mac stared out the window. He wondered if it was someone who "wanted" him to love her and he did not so she decided to try and get revenge? He could think of a few like that but not many and he did not think they would resort to something like this. He thought of Peyton. He was sure she would not do something like this. She was not a threatening person and she had broken that relationship herself. He had nothing to do with the ending of that so he did not think she would be blaming it on him.

Mac remembered when he broke up with Aubrey. She had not been angry though. Their relationship had been more like friends than lovers. They had had a lot of fun together and she was not an angry, mean person either, so that left her out. Mac could not imagine who would be wanting revenge against him about "forgotten love". Then again, he had no idea if the flowers had anything to do with the stationary.

Mac frowned and leaned on his desk. He was totally lost on this case, and they were totally lost on the other one too. He began writing on his report again since he had not finished that earlier. In the back of his mind, however, he was still pondering over the situation he was in. "Beware of lions", "Forgotten Love", "Watch Your Back". Mac looked out the window. He remembered the time someone shot up the lab. If he had been sitting here in this chair, he would have been dead. He hated thinking about that but if someone had it in for him, maybe they would try that. However, he did not think the building across the way was vacant anymore.

After a while, Mac's phone rang. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac, we have located Robert Walters," Don said. "He's swimming with the fishes."

Mac frowned. "He's dead?"

"Yep. Unless he's faking it."

Mac rolled his eyes at that morbid sense of humor. Don was always like that to try and keep from thinking too much about the situation. "And still no sign of George Grimes and Patricia Stanford?" Mac asked.

"Nothing yet," Don replied. "But we think we may have them on the run. They know they can't get through the airport to get out so I'm thinking they'll either try the train or they'll try driving."

"Good. Keep me posted. Is Danny there with you?"

"Yes. He's examining the crime scene now."

"Good."

"You got any further on that other situation?"

"Not yet. I don't know if the two things are connected or not. I'm going to see if the florist knows who ordered these flowers."

"You got more flowers?" Don asked.

"Yes. They were here when I got back earlier."

"Be careful Mac."

"I will."

Mac put his phone away and looked at the card that was on the bouquet. "Candy's Flowers". He had never heard of that florist but he knew of a lot of independently owned businesses. He got the phone book and looked for that florist shop and found that it was over in Queens. He would have to go over there and see if they had a record of whoever sent these flowers. He also wanted to see the person who owned it. He did not know the name of the psychic who had given him his warning.

When Mac was done with his report, he got his coat and left his office. Jo was not in her office when he went in there so he decided he would just go himself. What trouble could he get into going to a florist? Well, he supposed he could get into a lot of trouble but he would just see.

Mac went down to the Avalanche and headed over to Queens. It was quite a long drive over there especially with all the traffic that he had to wade through on the way. He was soon crossing the bridge over into Queens and his phone rang. He had it on the speaker so he pressed the button. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac, where are you?" Jo asked.

"I'm on my way to Queens to check out that florist shop. I want to know if they can tell me who ordered those flowers."

"Mac, why didn't you tell me you were going?"

"You weren't in your office. Besides, I just want to know who's running the florist shop and who sent the flowers."

"You be careful. How do you know the florist isn't in on it?"

"Jo, I don't think she would send me flowers from her own shop so that I can find her. Besides, we still don't know whether the flowers are related to the notes or not."

"It's a great possibility."

"I'll call you later."

"Okay."

Mac hung up the phone. He knew those two things could be connected but it was not definite yet. Jo was worried. She did not like the idea of Mac going over there alone when the woman could be after him. She wished he had waited for her or found her so she could have gone with him.

Mac arrived at the florist shop which had flowers painted on the windows and had many flowers in the windows. Of course there were none outside since it was winter. Mac knew they kept those flowers in a refrigerator to keep them fresh but that sure ruined the smell of them…most of the time. The flowers he got certainly had fragrance. He wondered if they sprayed them with something.

Mac walked into the shop and was bombarded by the smells of flowers of all kinds. He thought they surely had some sort of fragrance spray or something that they put on those flowers because he had never walked into something like this. It was warm in the store and there were flowers everywhere. Mac thought they looked fresh, but how could they be fresh? He did not see anyone in the shop. "Hello!" he called. He walked on to the counter which was a little more than waist high. "Hello!"

"I'll be with you in just a minute!" a female voice called from the back.

Mac blew out a breath. He had been a little nervous there for a minute. He looked at the flowers around the shop. He saw some like the ones he had gotten at his office and he saw the cards that the florist used. He picked one up and looked at it a moment. He frowned as he noticed something that he had not seen before. Why did he not see that before? He had not seen a connection between the flowers and the notes…but he saw one now. In the top left corner of the card was a small emblem and in the middle of that was a lion just like the one on the stationary. However, it was so small that one would not notice it at a glance.

Mac laid the card down and looked around the shop. The woman had still not come from the back. He drew his weapon and went around the counter. "This is the police!" he called as he went through the doorway behind the counter.

As Mac entered the room behind the counter, he realized the smell of the flowers was even stronger back there. As a matter of fact, it was almost overpowering. He started to cough and found himself unable to stop coughing. He felt like his breath was leaving him. He started to turn and leave but the world seemed to spin in a circle and then tilted in a strange way. Mac found himself lying on the floor gasping for breath. Someone walked up to him but he could only see shoes, women's shoes. She knelt beside him and Mac felt her removing the handcuffs from his belt and cuffing his hands. "No," he said but he could not resist. He had no breath. He coughed as he tried to talk again.

The woman left him for a moment. Mac looked around the room he was in but it was mostly dark. He was sweating and he could not get enough breath in to move. He wondered if he was going to die right here but he figured she would not handcuff him if she intended to kill him here. He did not have his cell phone with him either. He had left it hooked up in the Avalanche.

Soon, the woman came back and tied Mac's mouth. Then she got hold of his coat collars and began dragging him. Mac was surprised that she could drag him like that but she dragged him out the back door of the shop and made him get into her van which was the one she used for her business. Mac did not get a look at her at all. He thought she was making sure he did not see her yet. He lay there on the floor of the van gasping for air for a few minutes but then he felt fresh air coming in. Why did he go there alone? He should have known better. Now, he was in trouble and he did not know how he would get out this time…


	16. Chapter 16

**Well, someone asked me why I reposted this story, but I changed it a lot, and the others will follow this one. :) Sorry if you all thought it was a new story, but it is a lot different than it was before. I read this story a few weeks ago, and I thought it was horrible so I changed it.**

Jo was getting really worried. She had called Mac several times now and he had not answered. She knew he would answer her if he could. She hoped he was not in trouble; that he was just caught up in the case somehow and could not answer at the moment. She had a feeling of dread though. She just knew something was wrong. She went into Mac's office and looked at the card from the flowers and then called Flack.

"Flack," Don answered.

"Don, I can't get in touch with Mac," Jo said. "He went over to this florist shop in Queens trying to find out what's going on with these notes and these flowers."

"You think he found trouble over there?"

"I don't know but I think he would answer the phone if he hadn't."

"Jo, I would go over there and see about him but I'm tracking George Grimes and Patricia Stanford. I can't leave right now."

"Okay, Don. I'm going to take Lindsey and we're going to find out if Mac is okay."

"Alright. Just let me know."

"I will."

Jo put her phone away and went into the lab where Lindsey was. "Lindsey, we have to go over to Queens," Jo said. "I think Mac is in trouble."

"Why?" Lindsey asked as she was taking off her lab coat.

"He's not answering his phone and he went over there on this personal case." Jo gave the florist card to Lindsey. "That's where we're going."

They went out and got into Jo's car since the Avalanche was missing. Lindsey was studying the card as they were on their way. She had a forensics kit with her. She took a magnifying glass and looked at the emblem in the corner. "Jo, I think Mac 'is' in trouble," she said.

"Why?" Jo asked.

"There's a tiny lion symbol in the top of this card."

Jo looked at Lindsey. "Call Flack and tell him we need some officers over at that florist shop," she said.

Lindsey got on her phone as Jo was trying to get through traffic. She was hoping that they were not too late to help Mac. She felt like it was taking forever to get there as they were stuck in traffic part of the way. "Flack has officers on the way," Lindsey said. "And Danny is coming too."

When they arrived at the florist shop they could see the Avalanche sitting outside. Danny got out of the car he came in and ran over to Jo and Lindsey. "What's going on?" Danny asked.

Jo explained it to him as quickly as she could. "He must be in there or…" She did not want to finish that sentence.

They drew their weapons and went to the front door which was not locked. They went inside and immediately noticed the odor of the place. "Hey, what is that?" Danny asked.

They went back outside as the irritant was about to cause them to cough. "Obviously this person has him!" Jo said as she was trying to stop coughing.

"Who is it?" Danny asked.

"I don't know. All I know is Mac has been getting flowers and notes and now he's gone."

"Okay, let's just go over this place and see if we can figure out who this person is. Surely there's something there that will tell us."

They had to wear masks to go into the place because of the irritant. Jo was worried sick as she was trying to help them go over the place. They found fingerprints and Lindsey ran them through the system with the portable computer. They all stared at the screen; Danny and Lindsey were shocked but Jo did not know who they were looking at. However, she could see the shock on their faces. "Who is this?" Jo asked.

"Ella McBride," Lindsey answered.

"Who is that?"

"She was a young girl who was obsessed with Mac for a while," Danny explained. "She gave false evidence in a case to get his attention and she even slit her wrists to get his attention."

"And what happened after that?"

"She was in a halfway house getting therapy and she got out. Mac befriended her because he didn't just want to leave her out there alone with nobody. I've never heard of her since."

"And now she's back?"

"Looks like it," Lindsey said.

Jo looked around them. "Where would she take him?" she wondered out loud.

"First of all, we're going to find out where she lives and then we'll find out where else she would take him," Danny said.

Mac was getting over whatever that was that had caused him to almost pass out before. He had a thundering headache now. He looked toward the front of the van trying to see who was driving but she had a hat on. He was sure it was a woman. She had long blonde hair and it looked curly. Mac tried to think…this had to be someone he had known before or at least met. He could not imagine who would kidnap him like this.

Just then, the woman looked around at him. Mac was shocked as he looked into the face of Ella McBride. She was older but it was her. Mac could not talk because he still had the gag in his mouth. "We meet again, Detective Taylor," Ella said. "You never did figure out who it was, did you?"

Mac was about to get over his shock and it was turning into anger. "Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to talk when we get where we're going," Ella said. "I know what you want to say anyway…why are you doing this? Where are you taking me? You're not going to get away with this. Well, I don't want to hear all that. I'm doing it because I love you and you won't return my love. I'm taking you somewhere that your team will have a hard time finding you…if they ever can, and yes, I will get away with this because they don't have any idea who was doing this."

Mac could not believe what he was hearing. How did she get so far down the road and did not try to get help? He had wondered that the time she tried to commit suicide and only failed because she did not cut deep enough. He pulled at the cuffs but they were impossible to get out of without a key. He reached for his belt where the pouch was with the key inside. He watched Ella to make sure she did not see him. However when he stuck his finger into the pouch, the key was not there.

Ella looked back at him again. "Oh, and I took the liberty of relieving you of your handcuff key," she said sweetly. "I wouldn't want you to get loose while I'm driving."

Mac glared at her. He thought maybe he could get up but he could do nothing with his hands behind his back. He did not see any way out of this until he was out of these cuffs. He was sure she would not give him much opportunity to get away. She would not go to all this trouble of capturing him to let him escape. He wished he had his phone with him. At least the others could track that but it was in the Avalanche.

Mac knew he was in trouble. He could not get loose and the others were going to have a hard time finding him…if they could find him at all.

"She may be driving that flower shop van," Danny said as he was talking to Don on the phone. "You can't miss that thing. It is bright green and has roses and all sorts of flowers on it and it says 'Candy's Floral Shop' on the side."

"Candy? Why Candy?" Don asked.

"I don't know. Maybe she likes that name better or something. We're looking into everything we can possibly find about this woman."

"You keep me posted. We're still tracking George Grimes and that woman. They left the baby at a service station here on the edge of the city. The clerk here says the woman brought the baby in and set it down here in one of those little car seats. When they left, she left the baby."

"Maybe she meant to. Is there a note or anything?"

"I haven't had time to look yet. We're still trying to figure out which way they went."

"Aw, I wish I was out there helping you but we have to find Mac."

"Any leads yet?"

"Not a thing. This woman covered her tracks well."

"Keep me posted on that."

Don ended the call. He wished he was there helping them find Mac but he had to keep after this fugitive. He was beginning to wonder if the woman was helping the guy or if he was threatening her into helping him. He walked over to the car where the baby was now. "I need to see that little guy a minute," he said. He smiled at the baby. "Hey there little fella. Just need to check something here." Don unbuckled the baby and lifted him to see if there was a note or anything under him. There was a piece of paper in the baby seat. Don got the paper and put the baby back in the seat.

Don unfolded the paper and read the note. _Please don't let him get my baby again. I had to go along with him because he said he would kill my baby if I didn't. Take care of my baby._

Don frowned. The woman left her baby to save it from this monster. He just could not understand why the guy wanted her to take that report of Mac's. It did not help them. All it did was put them on their trail. Don figured the guy must have thought it would get his drug buddy out of jail. _I guess he was surprised, _Don thought. He thought of Mac. He could not help but worry about that situation.

Mac was still lying in the floor of the van but they had stopped. He could not think of a way out of this with his hands cuffed behind him. He supposed he could kick her down. He wanted to kick himself for having any kind of compassion for her but he did not want to hurt her.

The door of the van opened and Ella was there. "Sorry about this," she said.

Mac's eyes widened as she was aiming a gun at him. He tried to yell, "No", but the gag would not allow that. He thought she was going to kill him but instead of a bullet, a dart came from the gun. Mac felt it stick into his leg which hurt incredibly bad. In a moment he was feeling like the world was spinning around him. He moaned as Ella was dragging him out of the van.

"We have to change vehicles," Ella said as though Mac was in agreement. "They will be looking for this van."

Mac did not really comprehend what she said. He knew she put him into the back seat of a car. He wondered how she could move him around like that but he was totally out of it. He felt so sick he thought he would throw up everything inside him but he finally fell asleep…

Jo was pacing around the lab. She could not stand the thought of Mac out there in the hands of a crazy woman…and it was almost dark. She supposed he would be there all night. They did not have a clue as to where Ella McBride would take Mac. Adam came from the computer lab. "I have Ella McBride's address," he announced.

Jo grabbed the paper. "We have to get to this address," she said to Danny and Lindsey.

"We're with you," Lindsey replied.

They went to the address and of course, found that Ella was not there. They searched the apartment and found a lot of newspaper articles about Mac. Jo looked at them all which were hanging all over the wall in Ella's extra room. The room was fixed like an office with a desk and computer, a filing cabinet and bookshelf. Jo stared at the newspaper articles. She had not seen a lot of this stuff herself. Danny and Lindsey came into the room.

"Wow," Lindsey said. "Talk about obsession."

"Let's look through all this and see if there's any indication of where she is going," Jo said.

They searched through everything in the room but there was nothing that indicated where Ella might be going. "We'll have to get Adam into this computer," Danny said. He put the laptop into an evidence bag.

"We have to find him," Jo said. "Why would she kidnap him? And where would she take him?"

"Those are questions we will have to figure out and maybe this computer will help us."

When they got back to the lab, they analyzed the evidence they had found at the flower shop and the apartment. "That fragrance was definitely sprayed on those flowers to make them smell good," Lindsey said. "You know flowers usually don't smell good after they have been kept in cold storage. She used the fragrance to make them smell like their normal state. But there was a chemical compound mixed in it at the flower shop. It caused irritation and could have put someone to sleep if they breathed enough of it."

"So, she got Mac under control like that," Jo said. She folded her arms and looked at the time. It was after 7 pm now. She knew they were not going to find Mac today and she needed to get home with Ellie. "I really have to go."

"We understand," Danny assured her. "Lindsey is going too. Adam, Sheldon and I will handle this. If anything comes up, we'll let you know."

"You better make sure you do."

Jo went to her office and got her coat. She hated to leave but she had no choice. She could not leave Ellie at home alone all night. She was hoping she could see what Adam found in that computer before she left but he was having a hard time getting in. Jo was sure he would soon get into it because there were not many computers that he could not get into no matter how well they were secured.

Lindsey looked at Danny. "I want to be informed too," she said.

"Don't worry," Danny replied.

"The baby sitter already called a while ago so I have to get going. She won't like this."

"Yeah."

Danny went back into the lab after Lindsey was gone. He looked at all the evidence they had taken from Ella's apartment. He thought it looked like she had been collecting information on Mac for quite a long time. Just then, Adam came into the lab. "Danny, there's something you need to see here," he said.

Sheldon came into the lab. "I just heard Mac is missing," he said.

"You heard right," Danny replied. "Come on and I'll tell you about it."

They all went into the computer lab. "I finally got into the computer," Adam said. He looked at Danny. "This woman is more than obsessed with Mac. She has written a whole fantasy about it." He opened a file on the computer. "This is a novel. I've only read a little of it but it is all about how she and Mac met and then she went into a detailed explanation about how they would come together as lovers."

Danny and Sheldon leaned over the computer and stared at the novel. "Does she have any details about where they would be?" Danny asked.

"Well, like I said, I haven't had enough time to read the whole thing."

"Print this out so we can study it. There may be some clue in there that will tell us where they are."

Adam printed out the novel while Danny explained the situation to Sheldon. "And Don is still after that other guy," Danny said. "I don't know where they are now but the guy is going to run out of room to run and he'll have to stop some time."

Just then, Danny's phone rang. "Yeah," he answered.

"Danny, we found Patricia Stanford," Don said.

"Found? Is she dead?"

"She's been shot but she's fighting. She just might pull through this. George Grimes is still on the run but we think we're going to find him soon."

"Great. Keep us informed."

"Somebody needs to go down there and talk to Patricia Stanford if she wakes up."

"We'll keep an eye on it."

"How is the case about Mac going?"

"We have not found any clue as to where they are yet. We did find a novel that Ella McBride was writing and we think we might find some clues in there. She was obsessed with Mac and that's putting it lightly."

"Just keep me posted."

"Will do."

Danny put his phone away and told Sheldon and Adam what Don said. "Two difficult cases," Sheldon remarked.

"I just hope we can find Mac before this woman fulfills her desires or obsessions," Danny said.

When the novel was printed out, they went into the conference room to study it while Adam continued to study it on the computer. "Are we really going to read this?" Sheldon asked as they began reading.

"We have to," Danny replied.

As they read, they got more worried about Mac. "Looks like she plans to force him to do what she wants," Sheldon pointed out.

"How far is she willing to go?" Danny wondered.

"Looks like she is willing to go so far as torture."

"We have to find him."

Mac was awake and still in the back seat of the car. The car was stopped and Mac heard Ella telling someone who she was and then he heard a metallic scraping sound. He looked out the window as they were moving again and saw what looked like a high wall with a gate. He wondered where she was taking him and what did she plan to do with him when they arrived.

Soon, they pulled into what Mac assumed was a parking garage. He wondered what kind of place this was. Did she have help? Why would anyone help her kidnap him?

Mac waited to see what would happen next. There was silence for several minutes and then the car door opened. There was a nurse there with Ella. "Wow, he is a nice one," the nurse said.

Mac stared up at them wondering what they were about to do to him. The nurse had a syringe in her hand. Mac sat up and moved to the other side of the car. He pulled at the door handle but the door was locked. "There's no need for you to try to escape," Ella said. "You can't get away."

Mac pulled at the door handle again. Ella came around the car and opened the door behind Mac. He moved to the middle of the seat. He wished his hands were not cuffed. Ella started to come into the car but Mac shoved her back with his foot and then got out of the car. He tried to run but there was nowhere to run. The place was locked up tight. They were not in a parking garage, they were at a drop off point. For what? Mac had no idea where they were. He was up against the wall as they were coming toward him.

"Now, you settle down," Ella said. "No one is going to hurt you."

Mac glared at them both. He did not care whether they intended to hurt him or not…he would hurt them if they kept on because he was not going to be held captive. He finally managed to get the gag out of his mouth. "You let me go!" he demanded. "You're not keeping me here!"

"You don't have a choice," Ella said. "You are in no position to make threats."

"Well, you won't take me easily."

Ella folded her arms. "He's right," she said as she looked at the nurse. "We need another way to do this."

"We can use the dart gun you used before," the nurse replied.

Ella went to the car and opened the trunk. Mac saw her load the dart gun. He did not want to be captured again. He looked around him for a way out but there was no way that he could see. He was sure all those doors were locked and he could not drive the car with his hands cuffed behind him. "Why are you doing this?" Mac asked.

"I know you've been having an affair with your partner," Ella said. "You were messing up my plans."

"What plans? What are you talking about?"

"How can I make you love me when you're playing around with someone else?"

Mac frowned. "You can't make me love you!"

"We'll see."

Mac moved as Ella fired the dart gun at him but he was not so lucky the next time. He felt the prick of the needle as it went into his thigh. He fell to the floor and felt the effects of the drug after a few seconds…


End file.
